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lo:-i. ) 



NEWFOUNDLAND 



ITS MISSIONARIES, 



m TWO PARTS. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

OF ALL THE IMPORTANT EVENTS THAT HAVE OCCUKRED ON THE 
ISLAND. 



BY KEY. WILLIAM WILSOK, 



FOURTEEN TEARS A MISSIONARY IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 




CAMBRIDGE, MASS.: ^ 
PRINTED BY DAKIN & METCALF. 

HALIFAX, N.S. 

SOLD AT THE WESLETAN BOOK ROOM. 

1866. 



:^. 



n 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

WILLIAM WILSON, 

In the Clerk's OflBce of the District Coiirt of the District of Massachusetts. 



^IHI 1~ 




DEDICATION 



To THE Chairman and Brethren of the Newfoundland 
District, and the Wesleyans of the Colony. 

Dear Brethren, — With much cohcern and deep 
anxiety I, at your suggestion, took up my pen to prepare 
this volume on "Newfoundland and its Missionaries." It 
has caused me much research, and given me great labor. 
But, by the good providence of God, my task is accom- 
plished, and the book is now presented to the public. 

The history of Methodism in your colony, and the bio- 
graphical sketches of your deceased ministers, will be read 
by you with deep interest. Newfoundland is the oldest 
Methodist mission upon the face of the earth ; and this 
year, 1865, is the centenary year of our existence in your 
country. You have great cause for thankfulness for your 
past triumphs, and you will commence your second cente- 
nary under circumstances truly auspicious. 

You now have twenty-two ministers, fourteen circuits, 
eight mission-stations, four thousand members, and, at least, 
twenty thousand friends and adherents. Glory be to 
God alone ! 

In humbly dedicating this work to you, I can, and do 

from my very heart, offer up, on behalf of my old friends, 

or their children who may survive them, and also for my 

(3) 



IV DEDICATIOX. 

brethren who still labor on the island, this prayer, once 
presented in reference to the children of Israel : " The 
Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so 
many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised 
you." 

With all respect, I am, 

Dear brethren, 

Yours affectionately, 

William Wilson. 

Mux Towx, St. Stephens. New Brunswick, March 30, I860. 



PREFACE 



During the past year I published several letters on 
Newfoundland in the columns of the " Provincial Wesleyan," 
of Halifax, N. S., which letters were brought under the no- 
tice of the brethren of the Newfoundland District at its last 
annual meeting. This led to a communication from the 
chairman on behalf of the brethren and friends of Method- 
ism in Newfoundland, requesting the publication of those 
letters in the form of a volume. This communication and the 
reply were published in the " Provincial Wesleyan," of July 
13, 1864. A copy of these documents is here subjoined : — 

" The following resohitions were unanimously and cordially 
assented to at the District Meeting held iu St. Johns, Newfound- 
land : — 

" That the Members of the District Board, on behalf of them- 
selves and the Wesleyans of this Colony generally, do tender their 
sincere and grateful acknowledgment to the Rev. William Wilson 
for the valuable and instructive Letters on the ' Newfoundland 
Mission and its Missionaries,' which have appeared from time to time 
in the ' Provincial Wesleyan ' and do themselves the honor sincerely 
to thank him on account of the excellent matter they contain, and 
the interesting and truly Christian spirit in which they are written ; 
and they beg further to be allowed to recommend that the Rev. 
gentleman, the author, will, if agreeable to himself, publish them 
in a more permanent form, by collecting them together in a vol- 
ume, which it is the belief of this Board would be very acceptable 
to the Wesleyans of this Colony, and would find a ready sale, at a 
reasonable cost. 

" That, should the Rev. Mr. Wilson not feel inclined to pubHsh 

(V) 



VI PREFACE. 

them, as above recommended, he would kindly permit this Board 
to take the liberty of doing so. 

" John S. Peach, Chairman" 



Reply to the Chairman and Ministers of the Newfoundland Dis- 
trict. 

" Dear Brethren, — I received with much pleasure the Res- 
olution of your District Board on behalf of ' the Wesleyans of your 
Colony,' expressing their approval of certain letters which have 
appeared in the ' Provincial Wesley an,' on ' Newfoundland and 
its Missionaries,' and requesting the publication of those letters in 
the form of a volume. 

" In reply, permit me to say, that I spent fourteen years in 
different circuits of that important mission, during which time I 
mixed with all classes of society, saw into all the minutiae of its 
business, as well as the religious character of its inhabitants, and 
took extensive notes of all matters which came under my observa- 
tion. For many years I had thought of giving the result of these 
observations to the world, but delayed doing so until the Jubilee 
movement of last year, when, information being collected from va- 
rious sources as to the work of God on different missionary sta- 
tions, it seemed clearly my duty to communicate through the press 
what I knew in reference to a country where was commenced the 
first- Wesleyan missionary station upon the earth, and where I 
spent so many of my youthful and of my happiest days. Hence 
the production of those papers ; and if the peru&al of them has 
done any good, or has in any way contributed to the gratification 
of my dear friends in Newfoundland, I consider myself amply re- 
warded. 

'* As to the publication of those papers in the form of a volume, 
it is only a question of cost ; and I beg therefore to say, that if the 
friends think the volume will pay the expense, and they can ad- 
vance the sum necessary for putting it through the press, I will 
direct my best attention to the work, and will prepare a volume 
on ' Newfoundland, and its Missionaries,' with such corrections 
and improvements as I hope will make it both attractive and 
useful. 



PREFACE. VII 

" In conclusion, I would say that T never received anything but 
kindness from the people of Newfoundland, the remembrance of 
which is still fresh in my memory, and of which I shall delight .to 
think and speak to the latest period of life. 

" With much pleasure, dear brethren, do I subscribe myself, 
" Yours very aiFectionately, 

" William Wilson. 

" Sackville, N. B., June 29, 1S64. 

" N. B. If the volume is published it can be issued early next 
year, which will be the centenary year of Methodism in New- 
foundland. 

u W. W." 

Being thus committed, I determined to make the book as 
useful and interesting as possible. The publication of the 
letters alone would have been meagre ; something more was 
certainly necessary to give circulation to the volume among 
the general public. 

Less is known of Newfoundland than of any other of the 
North American Provinces : it is still a terra incognita ; 
and this ignorance has led many persons to form a most 
incorrect, and, often, the most absurd, ideas both of the 
country and of the people. Writing a book expressly on 
Newfoundland was a favorable opportunity of assisting to 
dissipate this ignorance, and of communicating to the public 
authentic information on various matters connected with 
the island. Hence, the miscellaneous subjects that are 
brought under the notice of the reader in the following 
pages. 

The Topography is from the Government Map ; the Min- 
eralogy from " The British Colonies ; " the Civil History is 
compiled from various sources, and the Statistics from 
Monro's " British North America." 

The History of Methodism is compiled from the standard 
publications of the connection, the Biographical Sketches 
from the Minutes of the Conference, and the Description of 
the Fishery from personal observation. 



VIII PREFACE. 

The present seemed the most favorable time for issuing 
such 'a work ; for all information in reference to these prov- 
inces is now called for, to lead the people to form a correct 
opinion as to the propriety or impropriety of a Confeder- 
ation. 

Methodistically, it is a centenary volume ; for it was 
some time during the summer of 1765 that the Rev. Law- 
rence Coughlan commenced his ministry, which will be one 
hundred years the coming season. 

The writer now submits his book to the notice of a can- 
did public, and prays that its circulation may be the means 
of doing much good. 

Mill Town, St. Stephen's, New Brunswick, March 30, 1865. 



CONTENTS. 



PAET I. 

CHAPTER I. 



Page 
CKOGRAPHICaL position and area — ST. JOHNS — TOPOGRAPHY OF 

THE COASTS. — DISTANCES TO THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS, . . .17 

CHAPTER II. 

INTERIOR — HILLS — LAKES — MINERALOGY — GEOLOGY — CLIMATE 

— SOIL — VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOM, . . . .36 

CHAPTER III. " 

DISCOVERY — HISTORY — FISHING ADMIRALS, 65 

CHAPTER IV. 

DISPLANTING THE INHABITANTS — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED — FRENCH 
IN PLACENTIA — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED A SECOND TIME — GOV- 
ERNOR OSBORNE — SURROGATE COURTS — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED 
A THIRD TIME — GREAT STORM — ADMIRAL RICHERY — FIRST 
NEWSPAPER — ST. JOHNS BURNED — THE RALS — SIR THOMAS 
COCHRANE — FIRST PARLIAMENT — STEAMERS — VISIT OF THE 
PRINCE OF WALES — TABLES AND STATISTICS, . . . .77 



PART II. 

CHAPTER I. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND — ENGLISH CLERGY — RISE OF 
METHODISM — LAY PREACHERS — PERSECUTION — JOHN NELSON 
— FIRST CONFERENCE, 105 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER II. 

SUCCESS OF METHODISM — IRELAND — LAWRENCE COUGHLAN — 
PHILIP EMBURY — METHODISM IN NEWFOUNDLAND — IN NEW 
YORK — CONFERENCE OF 1767 — CAPTAIN WEBB — RICHARD 
BOARDMAN — JOSEPH PILMOOR, 122 

CHAPTER III. 

RISE OF METHODISM IN NEWFOUNDLAND — LAWRENCE COUGHLAN — 
RISE OF METHODISM IN JERSEY AND FRANCE — JOHN STRETTON 

— ARTHUR THOMEY, 134 

CHAPTER IV. 

METHODISM IN OLD PERLICAN — JOHN HASKINS ARRIVES — WRITES 
TO MR. WESLEY — PREACHES — PERSECUTION IN TRINITY — MR. 
STRETTON WRITES TO MR. WESLEY FOR A PREACHER — HIS 
REPLY — ARRIVAL OF JOHN MCGEARY — EARLY METHODIST 
PREACHERS — JOHN WESLEY — CHARLES WESLEY — JOHN 
FLETCHER — MINUTES OF 1770 — EXPULSION OF SIX OXFORD 
STUDENTS — REV. WALTER SHIRLEY'S CIRCULAR — CALVINISTIC 
CONTROVERSY — JOSEPH BENSON — ROBERT SWINDELLS — 
THOMAS WALSH — THOMAS OLIVERS — SAMUEL BRADBURN — 
DOCTOR COKE, 149 

*CHx\PTER V. 

JOHN MCGEARY — VISIT OF REV. WILLIAM BLACK — GEORGE SMITH 

— WILLIAM THORESBY — JOHN REMMINGTON — WILLIAM ELLIS 

— SAMUEL MCDOWELL — WILLIAM WARD — SAMPSON BUSBY — 
STATE OF THE METHODIST MISSIONS IN 1785 — STATE OF ENG- 
LAND IN 1798 — MISSIONS IN 1813 — STATE OF INDIA — DOCTOR 
COKE SAILS FOR INDIA — ORIGIN OF THE METHODIST MISSION- 
ARY SOCIETY — NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT, .... 174 

CHAPTER VI. 

NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT — PLAN FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE 
MISSIONS — BAY CIRCUITS — ST. JOHNS' CIRCUIT — GREAT FIRE 

— CITIZENS OF BOSTON — BONAVISTA CIRCUIT — PERSECUTION 

— THE FISHERY — THE WINTER SEASON, 194 

CHAPTER VII. 

SABBATH-BREAKING — ANECDOTE OF MRS. LOCKE — THE CARBON- 
EAK CAPTAIN — JOHN PICKAVANT — JOHN LEWIS — METHODISM 
IN BURIN — THOMAS HICKSON — JAMES HICKSON — STATION FOR 
1817 — NEW CIRCUITS — HARBOR GRACE — TRINITY — WESTERN 
BAY — FORTUNE BAY — HANTS' HARBOR — CAPTAIN VICARS — 
HEDLEY VICARS — SABBATH SCHOOLS, 218 



CONTEXTS. XI 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NEWFOUNDLAND MISSIONARY SOCIETY — NOVA SCOTIA MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY — JOHN BELL — GEORGE CUBIT — JOHN WALSH — JOHN 
HAIGH — RICHARD KNIGHT — WESLEYAN MISSIONS — PROPAGA- 
TION SOCIETY — PERSECUTION IN BONAVISTA — ARRIVAL OF 
THE WRITER — STATE OF THE COUNTRY, 234 

CHAPTER IX. 

FIRST MISSIONARY REPORT — USAGES OF THE PREACHERS — 
MISSIONARY SECRETARIES — CIRCULARS — JABEZ BUNTING — 
JOSEPH TAYLOR — RICHARD WATSON — GEORGE MORLEY — JOHN 
MASON — LACK OF SCHOOLS IN NEWFOUNDLAND — NEWFOUND- 
LAND SOCIETY — REVIVAL IN OLD PERLICAN CIRCUIT — STATIONS 
FOR 1824 —ADAM NIGHTINGALE — JOHN BOYD, . . . .253 



CHAPTER X. 

SEALS AND THE SEAL-FISHERY — VARIETIES OF THE SEAL — OUTFIT 
OF THE SEALERS — RELIGIOUS SERVICES — ANECDOTE — METHOD 
OF TAKING SEALS — SABBATH-BREAKING AT THE ICE — RETURN 
OF VESSELS — NUMBER OF SEALS TAKEN — NUMBER OF VESSELS 
EMPLOYED — SIZE AND CHARACTER OF SEALING-VESSELS, . 273 

CHAPTER XI. 

MISSION TO THE LABRADOR INDIANS — MORAVIAN MISSION — ADAM 
CLARK AVARD — NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT — THOMAS HICK- 
SON'S MISSION — RICHARD KNIGHT'S MISSION — GEORGE ELr 
LIDGE'S MISSION — CHARLES BATE — WITHDRAWAL OF THE 
MISSION, 288 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE RED INDIANS — THEIR HABITS — KILLED BY WHITE MEN — AT- 
TACK A PARTY OF WHITE MEN — CAPTAIN BUCHAN — WARY 
MARCH — THREE LOST INDIANS SEEN — SHANANDITHIT, . . 305 



CHAPTER XIII. 

STATIONS FOR 1825 — CONFERENCE DEATH-ROLL — WILLIAM CR09- 
COMBE — SIMEON NOALL — CHARLES BATE — JOHN CORLETT — 
MERCIFUL PRESERVATION OF THE WRITER — STATIONS FOR 1828 

— JOHN TOMPKINS — JOHN SMITHIES — JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH 

— DR. TOWNLEY — MISSIONARY INCOME FOR 1828, . . .319 



XII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

IXSTRUCTIOXS TO MISSIONARIES — TRAVELLING IX NEWFOUNDLAND 

— KEMOV^ALS — SUMMER TRAVELLING — WINTER TRAVELLING 

— A JOURNEY OVER THE COUNTRY — JOURNEY OF MESSRS. 
KNIGHT AND TOMKINS — JOURNEY OF JAMES HICKSON, . 337 

CHAPTER XY. 

CUSTOMS — MODE OF TRANSPORT — DRINKING HABITS — HOUSES — 
GARDENS — WEDDINGS — FUNERALS — LITERATURE — EDUCA- 
TION — C. F. ALLISON — SACKVILLE ACADEMY — ST. JOHNS 
ACADEMY, 347 

CHAPTER XTI. 

CHURCHES — PREACHING — SINGING — SABBATH SCHOOLS— PRAYER- 
MEETINGS — RELIGIOUS STATE — STATIONS FOR 1836 — MALIG- 
NANT QUINSY — REVIVAL IN BIRD ISL.\ND COVE — FA:MINE, . 371 

CHAPTER XVH. • 

REMOVAL OF THE WRITER — STATIONS FOR 1835 — WILLIAM MURRY 

— DR. WARREN — EXTENSION OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND MISSION 

— VISITING MISSIONARIES — WESTERN SHORE — GREEN BAY — 
STATIONS FOR 1845 — JABEZ INGHAM — JAMES NORRIS — JOHN 
SNOWBALL — WILLIAM MARSHALL — RICHARD WILLIAMS — LAB- 
RADOR — CANADA CONFERENCE — NEWFOUNDLAND BIBLE SO- 
CIETY — FLY-SHEET AGITATION — MISSIONARY INCOME FOR 
1852 — FRENCH CONFERENCE — AUSTRALASIAN CONFERENCE — 
CONFERENCE OF EASTERN BRITISH AMERICA — JOHN BEECHAM, 

D. D. — STATIONS OF NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT, . . . 397 

CHAPTER XVin. 

ROBERT A. CHESLEY — NEW CHAPEL IN ST. JOHNS — GREEN BAY 
CIRCUIT — MISSIONS OF CONFERENCE — MR. COMBEN's MIS- 
SION TO LABRADOR — MR. FOX — MR. GOODISON — PRESIDENT 
BOYCE — THOMAS GAETZ — W. S. SHENSTONE — JUBILEE OF THE 
WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY — JUBILEE MOVEMENT IN THE 

E. B. A. CONFERENCE —JUBILEE MEETING IN ST. JOHNS, NEW- 
FOUNDLAND — PRESIDENT THORNTON — REV. ROBINSON SCOTT 

— STATIONS FOR 1864 — MEMBERS IN NEWFOUNDLAND, . . 415 



CONCLUSION, 431 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



/ 



PARTI 



NEWFOUNDLAND. 

ESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY: WITH ITS CIVIL HISTORY 
AND STATISTICS. 



NEWFOUNDLAND 



A5TD ITS MISSIONARIES 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIOX AND AREA — ST. JOHNS — TOPOGRAPHY OF 
THE COASTS— DISTANCES TO THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

THE Island of Newfoundland is situated on the 
north-east side of the main entrance to the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, between 46° 40' and 51° 40' 20" 
N. Lat., and between 52° 44' and 59° 31' W. Long. 
It is separated from Labrador, on the west and north- 
west, by the Strait of Belle Isle, which, in one place, 
is not more than twelve miles wide. Its south-west- 
ern point reaches to within fifty miles of Cape Bre- 
ton. 

■ Newfoundland is the nearest land to Europe of any 
part of America. The distance from Port Valentia, on 
the west coast of Ireland, to Cape Spear, at the entrance 
of the harbor of St. Johns, is 1656 miles. Its figure a]> 
proaches an equilateral triangle, having its apex at 
Quirpon Island, in the north, and its base from Cape 
Race to Cape Ray. Its length, from Cape Race, 

(17) 



18 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

its -south-east point, to Cape Norman, its north-west 
point, if measured on a straight line, is about three 
hundred and fifty miles ; but, if measured on a curve, 
it is four hundred and nineteen miles. Its width, from 
Cape Race to Cape Ray, is about three hundred miles ; 
and its entire circuit is little short of one thousand 
miles. Its whole surface, including its peninsulas and 
its numerous islands, has been variously estimated from 
36,000 to 57,000 square miles. The latter estimate is 
nearer the truth. This crives it an area about as large 
as England and Wales, and twice the area of New 
Brunswick. The population, according to the census 
in 1857, was 122,638. 

The deep Bays of Placentia and Trinity, separated 
only by a narrow isthmus, form a large peninsula 
called Avalo7i, which, because of its extended frontage 
on the Atlantic Ocean, and the excellency of the 
fisheries on its coast, is the most thickly inhabited, and, 
in a commercial view, is the most important part of 
Newfoundland. 

St. Johns, the capital, is in Avalon : it is situated in 
47° 33' 29" N. Lat., and 52° 45' 10'' W. Long. The 
harbor is very spacious and secure : it has ninety feet of 
water in the middle, and is accessible at all seasons 
of the year. It has a commodious floating dock, where 
vessels of six hundred or seven hundred tons may be 
repaired. 

The entrance is called the Narrows, which, at the 
sea surface, is three hundred and sixty fathoms across ; 
but, at the Chain Rock, it is only two hundred 
and twenty yards to the Pancake. On the north 
side is a precipitous cliff of sandstone and slate rock, 
three hundred feet high, above which is Signal Hill, 
surmounted with a citadel, five hundred and ten feet 



ST. JOHNS. 19 

above the sea level. On the south side, a hill, 
or mountain, rises abruptly to the height of six 
hundred feet, having a sort of shoulder near the 
water, on which is erected a light-house, and 
a formidable battery, called Fort Amherst. There 
are several batteries which command the entrance ; and 
in war-time a strong chain can be stretched from 
Chain Rock to the Pancake, which would ren- 
der it impossible for hostile ships to enter the 
harbor. The city is well laid out, on the side of a 
hill : it is about one mile long. It is lighted with gas, 
and supplied with water from a lake, called Twenty- 
mile Pond, distant from the city four and a half 
miles. The water-works are said to have cost .£80,000 
sterling, which was raised on government guarantee of 
five per cent. The population, in 1857, was 24,851, 
which is nearly one fifth of the population of the 
Island. 

St. Johns is a place of great business. In summer, 
the harbor presents a forest of masts. The stores are 
handsome and well-supplied. There are nine churches 
in the town. The principal edifices are, an elegant 
Roman Catholic Cathedral, and an English Cathedral ; 
three Protestant Academies, — the Wesleyan, the Epis- 
copalian, and the General Protestant ; also, a Roman 
Catholic College and Convents ; Normal School ; Me- 
chanics Institute ; Hospital ; Lunatic Asylum ; 
Banks ; Market and Court House. The Government 
House is a plain but commodious stone building, which 
cost over £60,000 sterling. There is a handsome 
granite building for the Colonial Assembly. There 
are several institutions for charitable purposes, also 
for literature and science, with a public library and 
botanic garden. 



20 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The soil in the vicinity is silicious and rocky ; but, 
with great expense and labor, several thousand acres 
have been brought into a state of cultivation ; so that 
the once dreary " barrens," in the rear of the town, 
are now traversed with good roads, studded with neat 
cottages, adorned with fine gardens, and ample returns 
are received for outlay and agricultural toil. 

EASTERN COAST. 

Leavinor the harbor of St. Johns for the south at the 
distance of eight miles we come to Cape Spear, the 
most eastern point of the Island. A light-house on its 
point informs the anxious fisherman of his proximity to 
the metropolis. Eighteen miles from Cape Spear, we 
arrive at Bay Bulls, and, passing Ferriland, we reach 
Cape Race, the south-east point of the Island. It is 
sixty miles from St. Johns, and lies in 46° 40' N. Lat., 
and 53° 8' W. Long. It is at this place the Cunard 
steamers land the mail, on their way from Liverpool to 
Halifax. Here the land trends to the westward ; and 
after passing Trepassey Bay, at the distance of tw^enty- 
five miles from Cape Race, we come to St. Shotts, the 
most dangerous place on the whole coast ; dangerous 
not because of either sunken rocks or shoal water, but 
because of the irregular current and undertow, oc- 
casioned by the two great tidal waves, one of which 
had rolled along from the north, and was the result of 
the previous tide ; the other, the tidal wave that had 
followed the moon across the Atlantic. These great 
tidal waves are here confluent ; hence the irregular cur- 
rent, so fatal to life and property. 

Leaving St. Shotts, we come to the first of the great 
bays : it is St. Mary's Bay. Its course is north-north- 
east ; its length is thirty-five miles ; and its breadth, 



HARBORS AND ISLANDS. 21 

from St. Shotts to Point Lance, about twenty-five 
miles. 

After passing Cape St. Mary's, the great Bay of 
Placentia opens to view : it is forty-five miles wide, 
and ninety long. It is the largest bay in the island. 
Placentia Harbor is on the eastern side of the bay. 
On the western side, near Cape Chapeau Rouge, is the 
Harbor of St. Lawrence ; and five leagues up the bay 
is the spacious Inlet and Harbor of Burin. Many 
islands, and clusters of islands, are found in this bay, 
as the Flat Islands, Paradise, Isle of Valen, Woody 
Island, Barren Island, Sound Island, and many others. 
The Ragged Islands are said to be three hundred and 
sixty-five in number ; and Great Merasheen Island is 
twenty-one miles long. At the head of the bay is 
Come by Chance Harbor, from whence it is only 
three miles to Bay Bulls' Arm, in Trinity Bay. It 
is this narrow isthmus which forms the Peninsula of 
Aval on. 

Point May is the south-western extremity of the 
Peninsula, which separates Placentia and Fortune 
Bays. Fortune Bay is thirty miles wide, and seventy 
long. On the eastern shore are the harbors of 
Fortune, Grand Bank, and Great Garnish, only fit for 
small craft. On the western shore are the fine havens 
of Jersey Harbor and Harbor Britain. 

At the entrance of Fortune Bay are the French 
Islands of St. Pierre, Langley, and Miquelon. St. 
Pierre is a small, rocky island, which rises abruptly out 
of the water to the height of near four hundred feet, 
on the eastern side of which is the harbor. Here is 
the seat of government for the French portion of New- 
foundland. A ship of war is here usually, and the 
police regulations are very strict. Langley and 



22 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Miquelon are to the north of St. Pierre. They were 
formerly two islands, separated by a narrow channel 
which is now filled with sand, but the sea still occasion- 
ally rolls over the isthmus. 

From Fortune Bay there is a straight line of coast, 
called the Western Shore : it is upwards of one 
hundred miles in length, and terminates at Cape 
Ray. 

On the Western Shore there are several good harbors 
and great numbers of islands, as the Western Penguins, 
Rameo Islands, Burgeo Islands, La Poil Bay, Port au 
Basque, noted as among the best fishing stations on the 
island. Cape Ray is the most western point on the 
island : it lies N. Lat. 47° 36' 49'', and 59° 21' 0" W. 
Long. 

From Cape Ray along the entire north-west coast, 
includino; the whole lenoth of the Strait of Belie Isle 
to Quirpon Island, and up the eastern shore to Cape 
John, which is the northern point of the great Bay of 
Notre Dame, the coast line, extending more than four 
hundred miles, belongs to the French, and is usually 
called the French Shore. The French Shore is the 
" Garden of Newfoundland," as its soil is well adapted 
to agriculture. Moreover, it has the most prolific 
fishing-grounds ; and what is of great importance in 
connection with the fishery, it has no fog, so that its 
climate is far more suitable for " making fish " than are 
those portions of the country that belong to the Crown 
of Britain. 

How the French came to occupy so large a portion 
of the Island, will be understood from the treaties made 
at different times between England and France. The 
first treaty between these nations, in reference to New- 
foundland, was the Treaty of Utrecht, made in the 



TREATIES. 23 

year 1713. In this treaty, it was agreed, that " New- 
foundland, with its adjacent islands, shall, from this time 
forward, belong of right wholly to Great Britain; nor 
shall the Most Christian King, his heirs and successors, 
or any of their subjects, at any time hereafter, lay claim 
to any right to the said island or islands, or any part of 
it or them." The Treaty, however, gave permission to 
the French to catch and cure fish on the northern 
coast, from Cape Bonavista to Point Rich, but forbids 
their erecting any buildings except those that were 
necessary for the prosecution of the fishery. Article 
13 reads, " Moreover, it shall not be lawful for the 
subjects of France to fortify any place in the said 
Island of Newfoundland, or to erect any buildings 
there, besides stages made of boards, and huts neces- 
^ry and usual for drying fish ; or to resort to the said 
Island beyond the time necessary for fishing and drying 
fish. But it shall be allowed to the subjects of France 
to catch fish, and dry them on land in that part only, 
and in no other besides that, of the said Island 
of Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called 
Cape Bonavista, to the northern point of the said 
Island, and from thence, runnino; down bv the west- 
ern side, reaches as far as the place called Point 
Rich." 

For fifty years, the only right the subjects of France 
had was the privilege of fishing on the northern coast, 
and drying their fish on the shore ; but they were not 
allowed to erect any permanent buildings, or even to 
remain there during the winter season. But in the 
year 1763, a second Treaty was made, called the 
Treaty of Paris, which concedes to the French 
the liberty to fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, within 
three leagues of the British coast ; and it also cedes 



24 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

to France the Islands of St. Pierre and Miqnelon, as 
a shelter for their ships, and to keep a police guard, 
but it forbids the fortification of those islands, or any 
erections except for the fishery. We extract the fol- 
lowing from the Treaty of Paris, 1763 : — 

" Article 5. The subjects of France shall have the liberty 
of fishing and drying fish on a part of Ihe coasts of the Island of 
Newtbundland, such as is specified in the Thirteenth Article of 
the Treaty of Utrecht, which article is renewed and confirmed 
by the present treaty ; and His Britannic Majesty consents to 
leave to the subjects of the Most Christian King the liberty of 
fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on condition that the sub- 
jects of France do not exercise the said fishery but at the dis- 
tance of three leagues from all the coasts belonging to Great 
Britain, as well those of the continent as those of the islands situ- 
ated in the said Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

" Article 6. The King of Great Britain cedes the Islands 
of St. Pierre and Miquelon, in full right,- to his most Christian 
Majesty, to serve as a shelter to the French fishermen ; and his 
said most Christian Majesty engages not to fortify the said islands, 
to erect no buildings upon them but merely for the convenience 
of the fishery, and to keep upon them a guard of fifty men only 
for a police." 

From the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, the French have 
had possession of the Islands of St. Pierre and Migue- 
lon, except in time of war. 

In the year 1783, a third treaty was made, called 
the Treaty of Versailles, which changed the French 
line of coast fi'om Cape Bonavista to Point Rich. 
This treaty fixed the south-east point of the French 
coast of Cape St. John, which is to the north of 
Notre Dame Bay ; and conveying the line north, 
round Quirpon Island, thence down the Strait of 
Belle Isle and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it ter- 
minated at Cape Ray, which has ever since been 



CAPES AND BAYS. 25 

its south-west boundary. We make the following ex- 
tract from the Treaty of Versailles, 1783 : — 

" Article 5. His Majesty, the most Christian King, in order 
to prevent the quarrels which have hitherto arisen between the 
nations of England and France, consents to remove the right of 
fishing which belongs to him in virtue of the aforesaid article of 
the treaty of Utrecht, from Cape Bonavista to Cape St. John, 
situated on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, in 50^ N. 
Lat. ; and His Majesty the King of Great Britain consents, on 
his part, that the fishery assigned to the subjects of his Most 
Christian Majesty, beginning at the said Cape St. John, passing 
to the north, and descending by the western coast of the Island 
of Newfoundland, shall extend to the place called Cape Ray, sit- 
uated in 47° 50' N. Lat. The French fishermen shall enjoy 
the fishery which is assigned to them by the present article, 
as they had the right to enjoy that which was assigned to them by 
the Treaty of Utrecht." 

Having given the information as to the way in which 
the French came to possess such a large part of the 
country, we shall proceed with our geographical survey. 

Cape Ray, or rather a neighboring cape called Cape 
Anguille, is the southern point of the spacious Bay of 
St. George, which is near forty miles wide at the mouth, 
and seventy miles long. In this bay there are several fine 
streams of water ; there is a salt spring on the south 
shore ; the soil is rich ; and coals have long been found 
at the head of the bay. A number of Micmac 
Indians generally are found residing on this fine bay ; 
and those who have made explorations into the interior 
from hence, report it as mountainous, abounding in 
small rivers, extensive lakes, and grassy plains. 

A few miles to the north of St. George's Bay, and 
separated from it by a narrow isthmus, is the magnificent 
double harbor of Port-au-Port, said to be sufficiently • 



26 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

spacious to afford good anchorage and perfect security 
from storm to all the ships in the British navy. 

Passing Port-au-Port, and steering north-east, at the 
distance of twenty miles we reach the Bay of Islands ; 
so called, because of some clusters of islands at its en- 
trance. It is about twelve miles wide ; and passing up 
the bay it is seen to divide into three arms, and the 
south-east arm is called the Humber Sound. This is 
the emhouelmre of the River Humber, the largest 
river known in the Island. The land is good and well 
vrooded. The region around St. George's Bay, and 
the Bay of Islands, is the richest and best part of New- 
foundland. We shall therefore pause here to give the 
reader some further information in reference to this 
interestino; district. 

Mr. Jukes landed near Crab's Kiver, on the south 
side of St. George's Bay, on the 11th of September, 
1839. He describes the country in that vicinity " as 
,^,ently undulating, with a fine short turf, not unlike 
some English landscapes." The place of his debarkation 
vs^as the mouth of a brook, which he describes as " a very 
pretty spot, with green meadows on each side of the 
brook, and a few neat houses clustered under the 
shelter of a rising bank, covered with green turf. 
Geese were feeding on the grass, ducks and poultry 
were scattered about, and a few cows and some sheep 
gave it all the appearance of a pastoral scene at home. 
From the rising ground in the rear of the houses, the 
view was very beautiful. A tract of low, undulating 
land, covered with a rich sea of wood, stretched away 
into the interior for fifteen or twenty miles, and was 
backed by a range of blue hills in the horizon, that rose 
toward the south-west, while toward the north-east 
they died away, and coalesced with the hills at the head 



FRENCH SHORE. 27 

of the bay. The wood was not of that sombre hue so 
generally seen in Newfoundland, but was patched with 
the light green of the birch, and what the colonists call 
the witch liazel^ the harm^ and the ops, and probably 
the ash was present there." Mr. Jukes considered the 
rich-looking valley of the brook, with its bright waters 
winding away into the woods, as " completing a most 
lovely and most English picture." 

But unfortunately this fine country is on the 
French Shore; and wdiile the French are not al- 
lowed by treaty to make any permanent settlement, 
the British Government think the same treaty forbids 
them appointing magistrates among the English settlers. 
The people, therefore, are lawless. From the official re- 
port of Captain Granville Lock, R. N., we make the 
following extract, which will show the condition of 
the British settlement in St. George's Bay. The 
report is dated October 2, 184:8 : — 

" The inhabitants consist of English, a few Irish, and a number 
of lawless adventurers, the very outcasts from Cape Breton and 
Canada ; and it is very distressing to perceive a community, com- 
prising nearly one thousand inhabitants, settled in an English col- 
ony, under no law or restraint, and having no one to control 
them, if we except what may be exercised through the influence 
shown by the single clergyman of the Established Church, who is 
the only person of authority in the settlement. I am told the 
reason why magistrates are not appointed is in obedience to direct 
orders from the Home Government, it being believed against the • 
spirit of the treaty with France." 

The Bay of Islands has been called a great timber 
station. There are some British settlers on its shores, 
among whom an anarchy reigns similar to that existing 
at St. George's Bay. 

Proceeding along the French Shore, from the Bay 



28 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

of Islands seven leagues, we come to Bonne Bay, 
which is a good harbor, but of difficult entrance. 
Seventy miles further is Ingornachoix Bay, which 
contains three good harbors, the chief of which is Port 
Saunders, a spacious inlet, so landlocked that ninety or 
one hundred vessels may lie in perfect security in every 
wind ; yet not inhabited, because it is not a good fishing 
station. A few miles to the north of Ingornachoix 
Bay is Point Rich, which was the terminus of the 
French Shore on Belle Isle Strait, until the year 
1783. Round Point Rich is St. John's Bay, into 
which a considerable stream, called Castor River, dis- 
charges its waters. 

We now enter the Strait of Belle Isle, which is 
fifty miles long, and in some places scarcely twelve 
miles wide. The Newfoundland coast, along this 
Strait, is rough, and contains no harbor of importance. 

Cape Norman is the north-west point of the Island : 
it lies 51° 39' 5" N. Lat., and 5Q° 2' 0" W. Long. 
Twenty-eight miles north-north-east from Cape Norman 
is Belle Isle Island, from which the strait derives its 
name. This island is a good fishing station, and is 
claimed as part of the French Shore. Quirpon Island 
is the northern point of Newfoundland : its position is 
51° 40' 20'' N. Lat., and 53° 27' 50" W. Long. 

The course is now nearly south to Hare Bay, a gulf 
which intersects the land for two thirds of its breadth, 
and which, near the head, branches off into numerous 
arms and coves, sheltered by lofty hills, which pour 
their torrents into the bay. 

Proceeding south, we next reach White Bay, after 
passing several good and much frequented harbors. 
White Bay is about twenty miles wide, and runs into 
the land south-west for sixty-five miles. The next 



THE COAST. 29 

prominent land south of White Bay is Cape St. John, 
the present Hmit of the French Shore, on the eastern 
side of the island. It hes north-east, in N. Lat. 60°, 
W. Long. 55° 38'. 

After leaving Cape St. John, -the great Bay of Notre 
Dame opens to view. This bay is more than fifty 
miles wide, and is studded with islands. Here is Long 
Island, Sunday Cove Island, Pilley's Island, Triton Isl- 
and, Twillingate Island, New World Island, the Black 
Islands, the Burnt Islands, Change Island, Togo Island, 
Indian Islands, Duck Islands, Wadham Islands, the 
Penguin Islands, and very many others, most of which 
are good fishing-stations, and afford good shelter for 
vessels. From the great bay, smaller bays, or arms, 
run into the land for many miles. Green Bay runs up 
near twenty miles, and Hall's Bay is about the same 
length. Both these bays are famous hunting-grounds, 
from whence the trappers not unfrequently cross the 
country to the French Shore in their hunting excursions, 
and sometimes go over the straits to the Labrador. To 
the south is the Bay of Exploits, into which is dis- 
charged the water of a considerable river bearing the 
same name. It was from the neighborhood of the Riv- 
er Exploits, that Mary March, a Red Indian female, 
was brought to St. Johns in the year 1819. 

From Notre Dame Bay, the course is south-east to 
Cape Freels, which is the north point of Bonavista Bay. 
On the north side of this bay are also many small bays 
and numerous islands. Here is Green Pond Island, 
Fair Islands, and Gooseberry Islands. Here also are In- 
dian Bay, Trinity Bay, Locker Bay, Fresh-water Bay, 
and Bloody Bay ; so called because of the frequent ren- 
counters between the aborigines and the Europeans 
who first visited these shores. On the south is Clode 

3* 



30 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Soun4, which indents tlie land for twenty-five miles. 
Here also is Goose Bay and Indian Arm. On tliis shore 
likewise are the harbors of Keels, King's Cove, and Bo- 
navista. Bonavista is not a harbor for large vessels ; and, 
in heavy storms, it is only an indifferent shelter for fish- 
ing-craft. It, however, contains a population of 2000 
souls, and has always figured in the history of the coun- 
try. Cape Bonavista was the southern limit of the 
French shore on the eastern coast, until the treaty of 
Versailles in 1783. 

A few miles south of Cape Bonavista, is the Harbor 
of Catalina ; so named from the fact that Jacques Car- 
tier, the French navigator and explorer of lower Canada, 
landed there in 1534. .Trinity Bay commences at Cat- 
alina, and is about twenty- four miles wide, and seventy 
long. Trinity Harbor is twenty miles above Catalina. 
It is a spacious haven, easy of access, safe for large vessels, 
and is pronounced by nautical men one of the best har- 
bors in the island. 

The town of Trinity is situated on a level spot of 
land, imder Rider's Hill. It is small, but neat, and the 
inhabitants are respectable and intelligent. On the 
north shore of the bay, above Trinity Harbor, are the 
harbors of Bonavinture, Ireland's Eye, Random Sound, 
Heart's Ease, and Bay Bull's Arm, from the head of 
which it is only three miles to the head of Come by 
Chance Harbor, in Placentia Bay. It is this narrow 
isthmus that connects the peninsula of Avalon with the 
main land. It was in Bay Bull's Arm the Atlantic Ca- 
ble was landed, which, by some unknown cause was 
broken in the deep sea. On the south side of tlie bay, 
are New Harbor, Heart's Delight, Heart's Desire, and 
Heart's Content ; the last named, a good harbor, and is 
the place where, it is said, a second Atlantic cable will 



CONCEPTION BAY. 31 

have its terminus. Below Heart's Content, are New 
Perlican, Hant's Harbor, Old Perlican ; and near the 
south point of the Bay is Great's Cove. 

About two leacrues east from Great's Cove, is the 
north end of Baccalao Island, the most famous land- 
mark on this part of the coast. This island rises abrupt- 
ly out of the water to the height of some four hundred 
feet. It is bluff, barren, and rocky, without inhabitants, 
save the turs, the gulls, and other sea-birds which 
build their nests in its clefts, and are found there in 
countless numbers. They are generally called " Bacca- 
lao birds " by the Newfoundlanders. The island is six 
miles loner. It is said to have been the land first seen 
by Cabot in 1497, and by him called Prima Vista ; 
but it was afterwards called Baccalao, which means. 
'' codfish," because of the immense shoals of cod 
which are found near its base. 

CONCEPTION BAY. 

At the south point of Baccalao Island, commences this 
spacious bay, which is twenty miles wide, and fifty miles 
long. The shore around Conception Bay is generally 
bold ; the clifts are often perpendicular ; the water is 
deep near the land, while, in the middle of the bay, the 
bottom cannot be reached w^ith ninety fathoms of line. 
On the north shore, every cove and inlet is inhabited. 
A line of fishing-stages, fishing-flakes, and oil-houses 
is erected along the shore, behind which peer numer- 
ous neat-looking villages, with school-houses and church- 
es ; and, in the rear, a succession of lofty hills tower 
above each other until they reach an elevation of five 
hundred feet, often terminating in conical peaks, and 
all more or less covered with shrubby or stunted forest. 
The numerous cascades whicli pour over the high sea- 



32 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

wall^ the multitude of fishing-boats in the distance, and 
the shoals of fish, causing an agitation of the water for 
miles, presents to the beholder an appearance that is 
both grand and majestic, and, withal, truly picturesque 
and beautiful. There are several rising towns of im- 
portance on this shore, where there is much wealth and 
intelligence among the people. 

Carbonear contains a population of some four thou- 
sand souls. It is not a very safe harbor at all times, 
being exposed to an easterly wind. It, however, has 
several large mercantile establishments, and is famous 
for the spirited resistance it made against the French 
forces in the year 1696, and again in 1708. 

Harbor Grace is three miles above Carbonear, with a 
population about equal. The town is built on a level 
spot of land. Many of the houses are very good, 
which, with the churches and other public buildings, 
give an impression to the stranger of elegance and com- 
fort. The harbor is good ; and vessels may ride there 
in all winds with perfect security. 

Above Harbor Grace, are Spaniard's Bay, Bay Rob- 
erts, Port De Grane, and Brigus. The two last-named 
places are of much importance, and have large popula- 
tions. 

Harbor Main and Holy Rood are at the head of the 
bay. 

On the south shore are the settlements of Topsail, 
and Portugal Cove, so called, because the Portuguese 
first landed there in 1525. It is only an open road- 
stead, in which even small craft are not always safe in 
an easterly wind. 

In approaching Portugal Cove by land from St. Johns, 
the scenery is strikingly picturesque. A succession of 
high hills on each side tower over the road, and shut 



BAYS AND CAPES. 33 

out every other object except the village, which, from 
this stand-point, appears very beautiful. 

Opposite to Portugal Cove, at the distance of four 
miles, and twelve miles from Harbor Grace, lies a love- 
ly little island, called Belle Isle, from a large bell- 
hiiaped rock at its western extremity. The island is 
six miles long, and is perhaps the most fertile spot in 
Newfoundland. The soil is a deep, rich, black earth, 
and seldom requires manure. Wheat grows well, and 
will yield twenty-fold. Oats, potatoes, and hay also 
thrive well ; and culinary vegetables of all kinds grow 
luxuriantly. 

Conception Bay is the most populous and the most 
important district on the island. Its population is esti- 
mated at 25,000. Here reside some of the most 
wealthy merchants and planters. From its harbor, 
every spring, hundreds of vessels sail for the ice in 
quest of seals ; and, on their returning from their sealing 
voyage, sail again in the month of June to prosecute 
the cod-fishery on the Coast of Labrador ; while the 
shore fishery is followed with great diligence by those 
who have not the means of fitting out for Labrador ; 
and the coast is everywhere dotted with the tiny masts 
of their fishing craft. 

Cape St. Francis is the southern boundary of Con- 
ception Bay. Its position is given as 47° 56^ 45'' N. 
Lat., and 52° 30' 0" W. Long. It is high bluff land, 
covered with stunted forest. 

Four leagues south-south-east from Cape St. Francis, 
we arrive at Torbay, where there is a considerable popu- 
lation, but it is a very exposed harbor. A number of 
fishing-boats, however, find shelter behind its points 
and its bluffs. 



84 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Nine miles from Torbay, we arrive at Quidy-Widy 
Cove and the harbor of St. Johns. 

The appearance of the sea-coast is generally rough 
and uninviting to the stranger. Still there is much fine 
scenery, and many fertile spots ; while British skill and 
industry has made tracts of land, formerly barren, to 
become fruitful gardens, and laid the foundation of 
many towns and villages, which, from their position, 
must in time become places of importance. 

The eastern coast, from Cape Freels to Cape Race, 
and the southern coast, from Cape Race to St. Pierre's 
Island, is generally bold, and the water is deep, with 
comparatively few shoals and sunken rocks ; but to the 
north-east and also on the western coast, those terrors 
to the weather-beaten mariner are met with much 
more frequently. 

Around the shores of New^foundland, besides a num- 
ber of small bays, there are nine magnificent estuaries, 
varying in length from forty to near one hundred miles, 
and are from twenty to sixty miles in width at their 
entrance, which deep recesses entice the finny tribes to 
seek their food in shoal w^ater ; by which simple ar- 
rangement, a kind Providence has placed the boundless 
wealth of the ocean within the grasp of man. 

The whole coast is rocky and frequently quite pre- 
cipitous ; occasionally^ however, a rough, pebbly beach 
forms a barrier to the further advance of the ocean 
billows. Bold capes and lofty headlands are constantly 
in view ; and the streams (brooks, as they are called) 
falling from these lands form many beautiful cataracts ; 
several of which, miniature imitations of the great 
Niagara, may be seen on the bluffs of Belle Isle 
Island in Conception Bay. 

The action of the tide is little felt on the northern 



DISTANCES. OO 

and eastern coasts ; but, on the western coast, the 
tidal wave comes with considerable power, and in St. 
George's Bay the water rises nine feet at spring tides. 
The distances to the principal towns are as follows : 
From St. Johns to the head of Conception Bay, 
thirty miles ; to Harbor Grace, sixty-three ; Carbo- 
near, sixty-seven ; Salmon Cove, seventy-two ; Bic de 
Verds, one hundred and five ; Great's Cove, one hun- 
dred and thirteen ; Bonavista, one hundred and forty- 
three ; Twillingate, two hundred and twenty. From 
St. Johns to Portugal Cove, nine miles'; to Topsail, 
twenty. Southern route — to Great Placentia, eighty ; 
Burin, one hundred and fifty-two; Harbor Britain, 
one hundred and ninety-seven ; Burgeo, three hundred 
and eight ; and Cape Bay, four hundred and six 
miles. 



CHAPTER II. 

INTERIOR — HILLS — LAKES — MINERALOGY — GEOLOGY — CLIMATE — 
SOIL — VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

THE interior of Newfoundland remained unexplored 
and unknown until the year 1823, when Mr. 
Cormack, an amateur traveller, accompanied by some 
Micmac Indians, traversed the country from Ran- 
dom Sound in Trinity Bay, and going nearly west, 
reached the head of St. George's Bay. The account 
of his journey, with a map, is found in the Edinburgh 
Philosophical Journal for January 1st, 1824. He 
reported the country he passed, which was a line of at 
least two hundred miles, as barren and rocky, generally 
covered with moss ; much intersected with streams and 
lakes ; and thinly wooded, except on the banks of the 
streams and on the margins of the lakes. He gave 
names to a number of lakes and prominent hills on his 
.route, and many of those names were after his particu- 
lar friends; thus the first lake he called Bennet's 
Lake, after a respectable merchant in St. Johns, and 
Carson's Lake, from an eminent physician, of that 
name, residing in the same town. One hill he named 
Mount Sylvester, another, near the centre of the 
country, he called Serpentine Mountain ; a few 
miles to the north of which he called a solitary hill, 
Red-Indian Mountain ; and one near Jameson's Lake, 
Mount Misery. 

Mr. Jukes, the geologist, made a survey of various 

(36) 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 37 

parts of the island in 1839-40 ; since which time, par- 
ticular localities have been travelled and surveyed, so 
that we are enabled to form a tolerably correct opinion 
of the general appearance of the interior. 

THE COAST. 

The shore is everywhere grooved with valleys and 
ravines, bounded by hummocky knobs, with precipitous 
and rocky hills, many of which are sufficiently lofty 
to preclude all view of the interior from the sea. 
The woods skirt the shore, and are very stunted near 
the water ; but the timber increases in size as you 
advance toward the interior. Passing these ravines 
and belts of woods, we arrive at an open country, 
called The Barrens, which are an immense waste, 
consisting of barren rock, or rock covered with moss. 
Also extensive marshes or savannas, and ponds of 
of all sizes and figures, around which patches of woods 
vary the scene, and give evidence of a more healthy 
subsoil. On the barrens, huge boulders are met 
with, and masses of loose stones, as though put there 
by human hands. The top of Bonavista Ridge is 
a place where tliese loose stones are found, and have 
been strangely called, Noah's Ballast. In the hollows 
are the tuckermore bushes, which is a dwarf juniper, 
with strong branches at right angles to the stem, and 
closely interlacing each other : the tops of these bushes 
are level, as if they had been clipped. To walk upon 
these tuckermores, or penetrate their branches, is 
equally impracticable. 

HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. 

The distiict of Avalon is hilly, — we would say moun- 
tainous, if that term may be applied to elevations of 
land not exceeding 1000 or 1500 feet. 



38 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Besides an untold number of isolated rough hills, 
there 'are two remarkable rano;es of hills in Avalon. 
Each range is about thirty miles in length. The first 
commences at Renews, fifty miles south of St. Johns, 
and running north-north-west, terminates at Holyrood, 
in Conception Bay. This mountain range is known at 
Renews by a number of rough hummocks, called The 
Butter Pots ; they are 1000 feet high, and is the land 
first seen when approaching the eastern coast from sea. 
Passing north from the Butter Pots, we come to more 
hummocks, which are called The Bread and Cheese 
Hills ; and on the west side are the Green Hills. 
Near Holyrood are several other hummocks, which also 
are called The Butter Pots. 

About twenty miles west from the Butler-Pot 
range, is a second range of hills, which commences at 
Cape Dog, in St. Mary's Bay, and terminates near 
Chapel Arm, in Trinity Bay. This chain has in 
some places an elevation of one thousand five hundred 
feet : it is less broken than the former, has a more con- 
tinuous outline, and many of the hills are rounded and 
flat at the top. Connected with this range, are 
Mount Scapie, near Cape Dog ; Sawyer's Hill, to the 
south of Great Placentia ; Cap Hill ; and North-east 
Mountain, to the east of Little Placentia. 

The main land is equally mountainous with the 
peninsula. A range of mountains commences at 
Cape Chapeau Rouge, in Placentia Bay, and occupies 
a large part of the peninsula between Placentia and 
Fortune Bays. It runs the entire length of Placentia 
Bay from the cape, and sometimes it approaches the 
water, and forms a rough, hummocky sea-wall ; its di- 
rection is north-north-east to Piper's Hole. On 
the opposite side of that harbor, its bluffs again appear ; 



HILLS. 39 

and running the same course, It strikes Goose Bay, in 
Bonavista Bay : here an offshoot curves eastward 
to Trinity Bay, and past Random Sound to 
Trinity Harbor. Taking its whole length, it is at least 
one hundred miles. This range is often much broken, 
abrupt, and precipitous, with fi'equent table-lands and 
marshes in its hollows and on its summits. In width 
it is irregular ; but sometimes it is several miles wide. 
It is a peaked, wild, and serrated mass of hills. One 
isolated peak, called Powder-Horn Plill, or Centre 
Hill, near Bay Bulls' Arm, in Trinity Bay, has an 
elevation of more than one thousand feet ; and from 
the top of it, nearly the whole of Placentia and Trinity 
Bays can be seen, as well as portions of Conception, 
Bonavista, and Fortune Bays. The land in the 
vicinity of this range consists of undulated ridges, 
rising from three hundred to five hundred feet above 
the sea, and is often covered with dense woods. 

A few miles to the westward of Green's Pond, is an 
isolated ridge, called Fox Harbor Hills, of about ten 
miles in leno;th. A chain of hills running north-north- 
east and south-south-west, the south part of which is 
called The Heart Ridge, and the northern part 
known as the Blue Hills, is between Bonavista 
Bay and the River Exploits. The length of this 
chain is thirty miles, and some of its peaks have an 
elevation of one thousand feet. 

On the south side of the River Exploits, and about 
thirty miles from its mouth, are the Shute Brook 
Hills ; and on the north side of the river is Hodges 
Hill, to the north-east of which is the Western 
Tilt Hill. Several of these hills have precipitous sides, 
are almost of a square form, and are flat at their sum- 
mits. Some of them have an elevation of one thousand 
feet. 



40 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

THE LONG RANGE. 

Near Cape Ray, a distinct chain of mountains com- 
mences with three conical or sugar-loaf hills, and runs 
north-east and north-north-east, for nearly sixty miles, 
until it reaches the head of St. George's Bay, where 
it expands to the west, and forms Hare Hill. It then 
turns to the north-east again, and forms the north-west 
bank of Grand Pond, and the south-east bank of Deer 
Pond ; and, allowing the Humber River to flow through 
its chasm, it runs north for sixty or seventy miles further, 
then resumes its north-east course, until it reaches the 
north-east coast, and forms a sea-wall, in White Bay. It 
is called the Long Range, and its entire length is up- 
ward of two hundred miles. Offshoots from the Long 
Rann;e tend to the west until they reach the sea, in 
that direction, .where they form bluffs on the Gulf 
Shore. These hills are steep toward the north-west, 
but the ascent is more gradual toward the south-east. 
There is a belt of level land between this chain of hills 
and the sea, of considerable width, through which 
the rivers drain the country. Hare Hill, already 
noticed, is very conspicuous from St. George's Bay, 
and is tw^enty miles north-east from St. George's 
Harbor. The Blow-me-down hills, on the River 
Humber, which also belong to this chain, have an 
elevation of eight hundred feet. 

Many other isolated mountains, or mountain ranges, 
have been reported ; but too little is knowm of their 
extent or position to justify any notice in reference to 
them. 

What may be called the table lands, have a general 
elevation of three or four hundred feet. On these 
table lands grow quantities of wild grass, and berries 
in great variety. There are many tracts of good 



LAKES AND PONDS. 41 

wood-land, and occasionally may be seen a spot of 
arable land tliat would repay the labor of the agricul- 
turist ; but the general appearance of the interior is 
wild, rough, and barren. 

LAKES AND PONDS. 

Lakes, or ponds, are met with all over the country, 
and in every possible position : they are found in the 
valleys, on the higher table-lands, in every mountain 
gorge, in the hollow of every ridge, and on the tops of 
the highest hills. They vary in size, from small pools 
to extended sheets of water, fifty or sixty miles in length. 
The water is often of great depth. Their banks are 
well-wooded. Islands, sometimes several miles in 
length, covered with dense forests, give their aid to 
cause an appearance to those inland lakes, surrounded 
as they are by dreary wastes, that is romantic and 
beautiful. From the top of North-east Mountain, near 
Little Placentia, sixty-seven ponds were counted, none 
of which were less than one hundred yards, and some 
of them two or three miles in length ; and all were 
within ten miles from the base of the hill. From the 
top of Fowder-Horn Hill, one hundred and fifty ponds 
are said to have been counted. 

Of the lakes to the north of the Island, little is known, 
and so of many in the interior ; but, of those which are 
known, and of which at least a rough survey has been 
made, the following are the principal : — 

RED-INDIAN POND. 

So called because the aboriginal inhabitants were 
formerly known to have their encampments on 
its margin. It is more than forty miles in length, 



42 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and five or six in width, and contains a number of 
islands. Its north point is about thirty miles from 
Hall's Bay, at the head of Notre Dame Bay; and, 
ten miles from that point, it is crossed by the 49° of 
north latitude. Ten miles from its southern point is 
Croaker's Lake, several miles long, and crowded with 
islands. The water from Croaker's Lake runs into 
Red-Indian Pond. These ponds are the head waters 
of the River Exploits. 

GANDER-BAY POND. 

This lake is twenty-three miles long, but is narrow, 
and has a ribbon-like appearance : it lies a few miles 
north-west from Bonavista Bay. At its south-west 
point J a river brings the waters from a great number 
of small ponds. Its outlet is north to Gander Bay ; 
and, by its numerous brooks, it drains the land for 
seventy or eighty miles. 

TERR A-N OVA POND 

Is twelve miles long, and discharges itself into 
Bonavista Bay. 

The ponds on Avalon are equally numerous with 
those on the main land ; but they are not so large, 
because the water-sheds are less extensive. Twenty- 
mile Pond, near St. Johns, is a fine sheet of water ; 
and the Hundred-Island Pond, at the head of St. 
Mary's Bay, is remarkable for the number of its islets. 

barrow's lake 

Lies a few miles south of McCormack's track, and 
the 55° of longitude, and passes nearly through its 
centre : it is about fourteen miles long, and discharges 
its waters into the north-west arm of Fortune Bay. 



lakes and ponds. 43 

Jameson's lake 
Was exactly in Cormack's track, and he crossed it : 
it is about twenty miles in length, and four in breadth. 
Serpentine Mountain is to the north-east of Jameson 
Lake, and Mount Misery on the south-west. 

LAKE BATHURST. 

A little to the south of Mount Misery com- 
mences Lake Bathurst, and lies nearly north-north-east 
and south-south-west. The 57° of longitude passes 
down the lake, which is about seventeen miles long, and 
five wide. It has a number of islands. A brook runs 
from its south point, which, after passing through a 
number of small ponds, discharges its waters into the 
ocean, on the western shore. 

GEORGE IV. LAKE. 

This lake lies west from Jameson's Lake, distance 
twenty-five miles : it is about eighteen miles long, and 
six wide, and contains a number of islands. Between 
Bathurst Lake, and George IV. Lake, there are 
several smaller lakes, as Wilmot's Lake, Waltee's 
Lake, Wilson's Lake, and Montserois Lake. 
These lakes, with a great number of lakelets, dis- 
charge their w^aters into White-Bear Bay, on the 
western shore. 

GRAND POND, OR BAY OF ISLANDS' LAKE. 

This is the largest sheet of water known on the 
island; It is nearly sixty miles in length, and five in 
w^idth. It lies in the same direction as Red-Indian 
Pond, and only fifteen miles to the west of it. 

This fine lake commences about fifteen miles north- 
east from the head of St. George's Bay. The chain 



44 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

of mountains called the Long Range forms the 
great water-shed of this part of the island ; and down 
its gorges flow the streams which originate this noble 
lake. It first runs east-south-east, seven miles, and is 
about two miles wide, bounded on each side by the 
lofty hills of Long Range. Here commences an island, 
more than twenty miles long, and five wide. At the 
end of this long island, the lake curves to east-north- 
east, and then nearly north for a further distance of some 
twenty-five miles. The high hills at its south-west ex- 
tremity form precipitous banks on the lake, and the 
depth of water corresponds with those steep bluffs ; for, 
in some places, no bottom could be found with ninety 
fathoms. Numerous brooks flow into it, through its 
whole course ; and, near its north-east extremity, it re- 
ceives the waters of a considerable river, called The 
Main Brook, which is fifty yards wide, and several 
feet deep. The Main Brook drains the country from 
the north-east to within twenty miles from the head 
of Notre Dame Bay. To the north of the lake, a river 
quite as large as Main Brook flows out of it. This 
river is called Junction Brook, because it unites with 
the waters of the Humber, and forms another lake, at 
the distance of seven miles, called Deer Pond. 

DEER POND 

Is about fifteen miles long, and three or four wide. 
It lies north-east and south-west ; and, at its south- 
western extremity, the waters are again narrowed to 
fifty or a hundred yards, and flow into the Bay of Isl- 
ands, where they are known as the River Humber. 

The Indians say, that, by means of a chain of ponds, 
they can navigate to Grand Pond, from St. George's 
Bay, and from thence to the Bay of Islands ; while 



RIVERS. 45 

it is evident, that, with only a few short postages, the 
island can be crossed with a canoe, from the Humber 
River to the Exploits. 

RIVERS. 

The largest river on the island is the Humber. The 
Humber takes its rise in some gorges of the Long 
Rano;e, in about the fiftieth deorree of latitude, and 
sixty miles from the Bay of Islands. Its course has 
been traced for one hundred and fourteen miles. Its 
first rill issues at no great distance from Cow Head, on 
the Gulf Shore. It runs east, through a number of 
lakes, one of which is eight or ten miles long. It then 
curves to the south and south-west, and at sixty miles 
becomes quite a river, sufficiently deep for a small boat 
to glide on its surface. Up to this point, Mr. Jukes 
made a personal survey of the river ; but here he met 
with a number of rapids, which prevented his further 
progress up the stream. A little below these rapids, 
its volume is increased by a tributary quite as large as 
the original stream. This tributary is Junction 
Brook. These confluent streams form the Humber 
River, which rolls its waters through the Humber 
Sound and the Bay of Islands, into the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. There is sufficient water in the Humber 
River, as also in both Deer Pond and Grand Pond, to 
float a schooner ; still it cannot be navigated, because 
of its rapids. There is one rapid only three miles from 
the mouth of the river : it is three quarters of a mile 
long. A second rapid, and more dangerous, although 
not so long, is found nearly a mile below Deer Pond, 
and eleven miles from its embouchure ; and that fine 
stream, Junction Brook, Mr. Jukes found to be so 



46 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. ' 

impeded with rapids, at only one mile from the main 
river, as to render his further progress in a boat quite 
impracticable. 

EXPLOITS RIVER. 

This river is about sixty miles long. It commences 
in Red-Indian Pond, whence it flows east for thirty 
miles, when it receives several tributaries, as Little 
Rattling Brook, the Three Brooks, Great Rat- 
tling Brook, and the Tilt Brook. These streams 
drain the country for fifty miles, and considerably en- 
large the Exploits, which rolls on about north-north- 
east, and discharges its waters into a bay bearing the 
same name. The Exploits abounds in salmon ; but, 
like the Humber, its navigation is much impeded by 
rapids. 

There are two considerable rivers near Cape Ray, 
called the Great Codroy and the Little Codroy, 
both of which originate in the south-west of the Long 
Range ; and, rushing down its gorges, discharge their 
waters into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at the western 
extremity of the island. Mr. Jukes ascended the Great 
Codroy twelve miles, in a boat ; but how much further 
it is navigable, we have no information. 

The fresh-water streams are generally small ; hence 
the term brook is mostly applied to them. The lack of 
navigable rivers is, however, in a measure, compensated 
for by the manner in which its splendid bays, and their 
numerous arms, pierce the land. But it may be stated, 
after all, that Nova Scotia has no rivers like the Hum- 
ber, or even the Exploits ; and, while those rivers will 
not bear a comparison with some rivers in New Bruns- 
wick, — as the Miramichi, or the majestic St. John, — 
yet they will compare favorably with the St. Croix, not 



MINERALOGY COAL. 47 

only as to the stream itself, but also in the number 
and extent of its lakes, as well as in the quan- 
tity, the quality, and the size of its timber. But 
while the St. Croix is, in different places, spanned by 
dams and studded with saw-mills ; also powerful ma- 
chinery is moved by its waters ; logs crowd its bed for 
miles ; the whistle of the locomotive is heard on its 
banks ; its woods are everywhere alive with lumber- 
men ; and its towns and its villages abound in wealth 
obtained from its forests, — the forests of Newfound- 
land, many of them equally rich, with equal facihties 
for bringing the timber to market, are still primeval. 
The woodman's axe has never felled a tree there ; and, 
with only a few exceptions, the crank of the mill has 
never been heard there. The rapids murmur, and the 
waters glide, as they always did ; for only in a few 
places have they been made to subserve the purposes 
of man. Speaking generally, no sound is heard in its 
wilderness, save the plunging of salmon in its streams, 
the screech of the wild-goose on its lakes, or the howl- 
ing of the wolf for its prey. 

MINERALOGY. 

The survey of the island has yet been only partial 
and imperfect ; but enough is known to satisfy scien- 
tific men that many valuable minerals exist there, 
which, in time, will become a source of wealth to the 
industrious inhabitants. 

COAL. 

It has long been known that coal could be found in 
the south-west part of the island. Forty years ago, a 
fisherman informed the writer, that, in St. George's Bay, 



48 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

where he had spent several winters, he had seen coals 
near his " winter tilt ; " and that when there was not 
much snow, he used to bring in large lumps of coal, 
which had rolled down from the cliff, and therewith 
replenish his fire. Since that time, the public have 
been made acquainted with the fact, that there are ex- 
tensive coal-fields in that region, as well as in the vi- 
cinity of the Grand Pond. Mr. Jukes saw coals when 
he surveyed that country in 1839. The seams he 
saw were of no great thickness ; but he says, " More 
important seams will probably be found." At eight 
miles from the Gulf Shore, a bed of coals, known to 
the Micmac Indians, was seen, of three feet thickness, 
and of excellent quality ; and equally valuable beds 
were known to exist in the same parallel, near the 
Codroy River. Mr. Jukes says : " I was informed by 
some Indians of Great Codroy River, that they had 
seen a bed of coal two feet thick, and of considerable 
extent, some distance up the country. Their account 
of the distance, how^ever, varied from ten to thirty 
miles ; and I could not induce them to guide me to the 
spot. I proceeded up the river, about twelve miles 
from the sea, and some distance beyond the part navi- 
gable for a boat, without seeing anything but beds of 
brown sandstone and conglomerate, interstratified with 
red marls and sandstone, gradually becoming more 
horizontal, and dipping toward the south-east. I be- 
lieve, however, that a bed of coal had been seen by an 
Indian, on the bank of a brook runninoj into Codrov 
River, about thu'ty miles from its mouth ; but the per- 
son wdio saw it w^as not in the neio;hborhood at the 
time of my visit." The extent of the St. George's Bay 
coal-field has been estimated at twenty-five miles long 
and ten wide ; and the total thickness of the coal for- 



SILVER, COPPER — IRON. 49 

mation, Mr. Jukes estimated at from one thousand to 
fifteen hundred feet. The coal-fields of Newfound- 
land are evidently a continuance of the coal strata in 
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Cape Breton : their 
strata dip under the sea, then rise and crop out at the 
south-west of the island. In the government map of 
Newfoundland, coal formations are marked on the 
south-east shore of St. George's Bay, running north- 
north-east, from Crabb's River to the Second River. 
A stream, twelve or fourteen miles to the southward of 
the Bay of Islands, is called Coal River ; and an- 
other stream, to the north-east of Grand Pond, is 
called Coal Brook. As the population increases, 
facilities will be afforded for brincrino; Newfoundland 
coal into market ; thus giving employment to hundreds 
of people, and paying ample returns for the investment 
of capital. 

SIL^^ER. 

A silver mine is being worked on a small scale in 
Placentia Bay. 

COPPER. 

A small vein of sulphuret and green carbonate 
exists in Signal Hill, St. Johns ; and a copper mine 
was actually opened in Shoal Bay, in 1775, by some 
English miners. It, however, did not pay working ex- 
penses, and Avas therefore, after a time, abandoned. 
There is a rich mine of copper, called the Terra 
Nova mine, to the northward, on what is called the 
French Shore. 

IRON. 

Chalybeate springs exist in different parts of New- 
foundland, which prove the existence of iron. One of 
these springs is in Logic Bay, near St. Johns. There 



60 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

is a, substance in the harbor of Catahna, which the 
people call '' Catalina Stone." It is sometimes called 
" horse gold ; " and was mistaken for gold by those 
who first saw it. It is iron pyrites, or sulphuret of 
iron. It is found in graywacke, or slate" rock. Iron 
ore is found in Conception Bay, and particularly on 
the northern side of Belle Isle. 

LEAD. 

At La Manche, in Placentia Bay, there is a rich 
lead mine, of which Professor Shephard, in a recent 
report, says : "I saw three thousand five hundred 
pounds of clean, pure galena throAvn from the vein by 
a single blast. From my explorations, made w^ith 
great care and circumspection, I feel confident that you 
may safely calculate on one hundred feet of the vein in 
depth, above water level, extending twelve hundred 
feet inland, at least. I have estimated four inches of 
solid galena as an average thickness therein ; but be- 
lieving it better to be vmder estimate, rather than ex- 
ceed, I will call the average thickness three inches, for 
twelve hundred feet from the landmark, and one hun- 
dred feet in depth above the sea level. This will give 
thirty thousand cubic feet of solid galena ; which is a 
little more than seven times as heavy as the same bulk 
of water ; which gives a product of upwards of thir- 
teen millions of pounds, together with the additional 
chances of quadrupling that amount by sinking below 
the sea level, and extending inland. The mining is 
the easiest thing imaginable." He places it on a par 
with the greatest lead deposits in the United States ; 
and adds, " This mine is accessible, not only by small 
boats, but even by the smaller class of ocean steam- 
ers." On analyzation, a sample was found to contain 



aEOLOGY. 51 

83.64 of lead, 13.87 of sulphur, and the remaining 
2.49 parts consisted of silver, copper, zinc, carbonate of 
lime, and silica. This valuable mine has fallen into 
the hands of a New York company. Another has 
been discovered in the same vicinity. 

Mining, in Newfoundland, is still in its infancy : 
future researches, and application of skill and capital, 
have on this island a favorable field for operation.^ 

GEOLOGY. 

A large portion of Newfoundland is granite. Mr. 
Cormack, when crossing from Random Sound to St. 
George's Bay, saw immense tracts of granite, and from 
the hills at the head of that bay to near the centre of 
the island, he mentions no other rock than granite : 
but near the longitude of b6°^ he found abundance of 
serpentine ; hence he named a hill in that district Ser- 
pentine Mountain, and a small pond, near Jameson's 
Lake, he called Serpentine Lake. Between the 
Bay of Despair and Jameson's Lake, he saw sienite, 
granite, quartz, gneiss, fine clay slate, alum slate, with 
indications of coal and iron. 

Nearly the whole of Avalon is composed of the low- 
er slate formations. The country west and north-west 
of Avalon is composed chiefly of variegated slate, 
coarse sandstone, and conglomerate. The neck of 
land between Placentia and Fortune Bays is composed 
of sienite, porphyry, and mica slate. The Island of 
St. Pierre is sienite or porphyry. A large part of the 
western shore is granite ; but quartz is found in the 
neighborhood of La Poile Bay. The Long Range is 
mostly mica slate, with granite. On the south side of 
St. George's Bay are the coal formations ; also near 

1 See "British North America," by A. Munro, Esq. p. 129. 



52 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

tlie Grand Pond. On the north side of St. Georoje's 
Bay, the magnesian limestone dips at a slight angle to 
north-north-west. At Grand Pond are cliffs of gneiss 
and mica slate. A calcareous formation stretches 
across the mouth of the Humber River, in hills of four 
or five hundred feet high. About three miles up that 
river are lofty precipices of pure white marble. Mr. 
Jukes says that mica slate, gneiss, and their associated 
rocks, with occasional patches of primitive limestone, 
extend along the whole west side of Newfoundland, 
and thinks fi.'om the Humber they form an unbroken 
ridge to Cape Quirpon. 

The strike throughout the island rarely varies from 
a north-north-east and south-south-west course : hence 
all the other prominent features of the country, as 
hills, valleys, lakes, and all the large bays, lie in nearly 
the same direction. 

Granite boulders, frequently very large, are found 
on the tops of hills four or five hundred feet high, com- 
posed of grit-stone, slate, or sienite ; and in positions so 
isolated that there is no rock like them within twenty 
or thirty miles. Drift, sometimes to the depth of sev- 
eral feet, is found over a great part of the island. 

Near the River Exploits was found a fine bed of 
unctuous clay, perfectly plastic, fifteen or twenty feet 
thick, and lying in thin layers, usually of a slate color, 
with a reddish band here and there ; and above the clay 
rests a bed of fine sand two or three feet thick. Thus 
it is evident that marble, limestone, with all kinds of 
buildinor and roofins; materials, can be obtained in New- 
foundland in great abundance. 

SOIL. 

Around St. Johns, and along the east coast, the soil 



SOIL. 63 

is shallow, poor, and hungry, formed of decomposed 
slate-rock, mixed with silicious and luminous matter, 
and requires much manure to make it productive. 
This district is but a poor specimen, and must not be 
taken as a criterion wherewith to judge as to the gen- 
eral fertility of the island. It is probable that the per- 
son who wrote the article in Morse's School Geogra- 
phy on Newfoundland had seen only the eastern coast ; 
for we are told, " the island itself is rugged and unin- 
viting, producing little beside stunted trees and 
shrubs." Now, while we admit that the sea-coast ap- 
pears to the stranger, " rugged and uninviting," yet 
that it produces " little beside stunted trees and shrubs," 
is manifestly incorrect. 

All over the country there is a thick coating of moss, 
which Mr. Jukes calls the " curse of the country," as 
it prevents the nature of the soil from being known. 
When this moss is cleared away, as it has been in 
many places, and particularly on the south side of 
St. George's Bay, the soil is found to be fertile, and 
often very rich. The wild grasses, afford excellent 
and abundant food for cattle and sheep. There are 
rich alluvia along the banks of rivers, and on the 
margins of the lakes ; and although on the coast the 
forests are stunted, in the interior the trees are large, 
and prove that there is a rich subsoil, which, if culti- 
vated would amply repay the agriculturist. 

Sir John Harvey, who was governor of Newfound- 
land in 1844, in a dispatch to Lord Stanley, gives his 
opinion of Newfoundland in the following words : — 

'' With respect to this island, liitherto undervalued 
as it appears to me to have been, there can be no 
doubt that the whole of those tracts designated (and 
depreciated by that designation) by the appellation of 

5* 



54 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

' hamen%^ merely because denuded of trees, are among 
the most fertile soils in British America, the sec- 
tions almost everywhere presenting to the eye from 
four to six feet of fine, gravelly soil, capable of pro- 
ducing luxuriantly every species of crop, except, per- 
haps, wheats and requiring only the aid of artificial 
manures, and careful and judicious culture, to give good 
returns, even in that species of grain ; while in respect 
to all others, more especially grasses of every kind, 
including clover, vetches, and I will add flax, in oats 
and barley, turnips, potatoes, and in fact every species 
of green crop, I have seen no country out of England 
and Egypt superior to it." ^ 

CLIMATE. 

The climate of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia is 
similar, and the seasons about equal in length. On 
the north-east coast, there are exceptions when the 
northern ice is kept on the coast by a north-east wind 
until late in the spring. The spring of 1832 was one of 
those exceptions. The great jam of ice from the north 
remained on the coast until late in June ; and the har- 
bor of Bonavista, where the writer then resided, was 
not clear of ice until the 21st day of June. Such in- 
stances are of rare occurrence ; generally, the spring is 
not later than in the other Provinces of British Amer- 
ica. The winter is not so cold as is sometimes expe- 
rienced in the other Provinces. Seldom, on the sever- 
est days, does the thermometer fall more than eighteen 
or twenty degrees below zero. One of the severest 
winters ever known was in 1818, when the thermome- 
ter often sunk from twenty to twenty-one degrees below 

1 Speech of Sir John Harvey before the Agricultui-al Society, St. 
Johns, in 1844. 



VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 55 

zero. The summers are warm, often hot, and a fog 
hangs on the eastern and southern coast for months, as it 
does also on the coast of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick ; but to the north of Bonavista Bay, and to the 
west of Cape Kay, fog is seldom seen. The fog, how- 
ever, is not unhealthy : the longevity of the people is 
remarkable, and perhaps in no country is old age at- 
tended with greater bodily and mental vigor than in 
Newfoundland. The climate may be pronounced very 
healthy. 

VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

The forests which skirt the shore on the eastern and 
southern coasts are generally small ; but, as you ad- 
vance toward the interior, along the streams and around 
the lakes, the forest expands, and the trees are larger. 
The timber on the western shore in the same parallel 
is larger than that wdiich is found on the Atlantic 
coast. St. George's Bay and the Bay of Islands are 
the great timber districts ; and the country about the 
Humber River and Grand Pond is densely covered 
with fine woods ; and Ingornachoix Bay is not less 
wooded. Neither the beech nor the maple is found 
near the shore ; it is said, however, that the beech is 
sometimes met with in the interior ; and the elm is a 
tree equally rare. Trees of the conifer a family are in 
great variety, and some of them are large. The fir 
(pinus bahamea)^ or the Canada balsam, the black 
spruce Qnnus nigra) ^ and the white spruce (^pinus alba), 
also the red pine Qyinus rubra) ^ are in great abundance, 
and grow well. They are from six to eighteen inches 
in diameter, and some are met with two feet in diame- 
ter, and from thirty to fifty feet high. The spruce is 
generally used for building boats ; also for oars, fences, 
spars of various descriptions, planks, and hand-barrows. 



5Q NEWFOUNDLAND AND IT3 MISSIONARIES. 

A v^ry large quantity is consumed for fuel. From the 
branches of the black spruce, that wholesome beverage, 
" spruce beer," is made. The fir is used for tlie frame- 
work of buildings, as dwelling-houses and stores ; sawed 
into clap-boards ; also for oil hogsheads, salmon and 
herring barrels, casks for screwed fish, shingles, and 
firewood. 

The branches of the stunted spruce, on the verge of 
the barrens and savannas, are usually fringed with a 
yellow parasite, called in the island, molldow. It is 
the alectoria subarta, or negro-hair, of botanists. This 
lichen is the chief food of the deer during: the winter sea- 
son. The black, white, and yellow birch are found in 
great abundance, and occasionally birch trees are met 
with three feet in diameter. The Ostrya Virginica^ 
iron or lever wood, is sometimes found. Varieties of 
the. poplar called popel^ particularly the aspen called 
aps^ grow well. But the black larch, or juniper Qpinus 
penidula), is among the most useful trees of the New- 
foundland forest. It is sometimes called the oak of 
Newfoundland, as it is the hardest, the strongest, and 
the most durable of all its timber. It is used exten- 
sively in ship-building; also for making cart-wheels, 
and other purposes requiring great strength. The top 
of the larch, or juniper, when growing, generally bends 
toward the east, and has oftentimes directed the travel- 
ler in his course. Notwithstandino^ the extent of wood 
found in many parts of the island,, it is remarkable that, 
until late years, the only means of preparing it for use 
was the " pit saw ; " but now there are saw-mills in 
different places. There are two or three saw-mills in 
Hall Bay, cutting up the splendid timber in the direc- 
tion of Red-Indian Pond. There are seven or eight 
in the neighborhood of Smith's and Random Sounds, 



WILD FLOWERS. 57 

and two or three more are met with in other parts of 
the island, all of which are doing well ; and perhaps 
no conntry affords a greater number of excellent sites 
for mills, and better opportunities for damming. With 
streams sufficiently large and convenient to float down 
the . lumber, if good localities were selected, and 
science and capital employed as in New Brunswick, the 
lumber trade in Newfoundland would for many years 
be equally remunerative. 

WILD FLOWERS. 

The wild rose, of which there are three species, grows 
in rich profusion ; and among them the rosa blanda, 
with its slender purple-red branches, flourishes beside 
the gentle, purling streams. " In the tribe of lilies," 
says Sir R. Bonnycastle, '' Solomon in all his glory ex- 
ceeded not the beauty of those produced in this un- 
heeded wilderness." L. Philadephicum is almost the 
same in appearance as the common orange lily. L. Sw- 
perbum ornaments some of the ponds, and in color is 
orange with dark blue spots. L. Canadense also grows 
in wet places, and has a collection of yellow or reddish 
flowers darkly maculated. 

Violets are common, but inodorous. The Iris, or 
wild flag, a superb flower, is very common ; and, in the 
flowering season, its rich blue petals dot every marsh. 
The " pitcher plant," or " lady's side-saddle," with its 
large, handsome, purple flowers is the natural produc- 
tion of the swamps. The moose wood, or heather wood, 
shrub produces yellow flowers, and looks gay, as does 
the sisyrinchium anceps, or the blue-eyed grass. Nat- 
ural red and white clover, and a great variety of other 
grasses, cover the plains and savannas ; and a beautiful lit- 
tle trailing-plant, called" maiden hair," is found in abun- 



58 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

danc^ It bears a small white fruit, like the egg of an 
ant, Avhich contains a saccharine matter, lusciously 
sweet. The reed tribe is numerous ; while the mosses, 
lichens, ferns, and fungi will furnish a wide field for the 
research of the skilful botanist. 

CULTIVATED FLOWERS. 

Roses are found in gardens in great variety. The 
moss rose, the damask rose, and the maiden's blush, 
thrive well. Dahlias grow in sheltered places ; the lily 
of the valley, Solomon's seal, the convolvulus, Jacob's 
ladder, the lupin, sweet-William, fox-glove, cowshp, 
columbine, honeysuckle, and most of the flowers which 
adorn the gardens of other parts of British North 
America, will also grow in the gardens of Newfound- 
land. 

WILD FRUITS. 

Among the wild fruits, we mention the bak-apple, 
so called because its taste is something like a baked ap- 
ple. It is a compound berry, in form and size like the 
raspberry ; but when ripe, it is a deep yellow color. It 
is very rich, and makes a fine preserve. It is abun- 
dant. The wild raspberry is found in all parts of the 
island. Wild currants and gooseberries are plenty in 
some parts. The cranberry in several varieties is found 
in great quantities, and sometimes the marshes are red 
with this most delicious fruit. The wild strawberry is 
here ; and the whortleberry, called hurts, which is the 
blueberry in the other Provinces, grows in Newfound- 
land in quantities that seem fabulous. 

GARDEN FRUITS. 

Among the exotic fruits is the apple, which, al- 
though not abundant, is found in some gardens to grow 



QUADRUPEDS. 69 

well. Some varieties of the plum, particularly the 
damson, is grown in Conception Bay and St. Johns ; 
and the Kentish cherry flourishes in those localities. 
The pear will grow, but does not come to great perfec- 
tion ; but cabbage, cauliflowers, broccoli, lettuce, spin- 
ach, cress, beets, parsnips, carrots, peas, Windsor beans, 
French beans, celery, tliyme, mint savory, and all the 
British culinary vegetables, arrive at great perfection. 
Potatoes yield abundantly, and are very farinaceous. 

ANIMAL KINGDOM— QUADRUPEDS. 

The deer of Newfoundland is the caribou^ or rein- 
deer. Tlie usual lieight of this species of deer is 
about four feet, and its length, from the head to the 
insertion of the tail, is nearly the same. The antlers 
of the male are large, with numerous branches ; but 
those of the female are smaller, with fewer divisions. 
It is gregarious, and roams the country in large herds. 
In the summer, these herds are seen feeding on the 
plains and savannas far to the north. As the autumn 
comes on, they migrate to the south, when the open 
country is literally covered with their countless num- 
bers. In their journey, they swim the inland lakes 
and small bays, and seem regardless of their enemies. 
A hunter informed the writer that he once saw the 
great herd " heating " to the south, when the open 
country, as far as he could see, was one living, moving 
mass of deer. Numerous wolves were following the 
herd, but seemed afraid to attack, because the deer 
would strike at them and kill them with their hoofs. 
Another man in the same district, in company with 
three others, once fell in with the great southern herd, 
when the party killed ninety-six deer. Beside this, 
when the writer resided in Burin, he knew one hun- 



60 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

dred and forty carcasses of deer to be brouolit into that 
harbor in one day. These deer were killed in their 
prime, and would average, at least, one hundred and 
forty pounds each carcass. A writer in the " British 
Colonies " gives the following information : " Former- 
ly, the herds that came to the south coast are stated to 
have been enormous. Mr. Bagg, of La Poile, says he 
has seen ' thousands ; ' and has killed seven at one shot 
with heavy slugs froni a large sealing-gun." ^ Their 
paths are like sheep-walks; but their footmarks are 
larger than those of a cow. Their food in summer is 
principally moss. In winter, it is the negro-hair ; but 
sometimes they will break the frozen snow with their 
hoofs, in order to get the moss. Early in the spring, 
they " heat " to the north ; and in the summer, they sep- 
arate into pairs, and hide themselves in the thick woods. 

BEARS. 

The white or Polar bear occasionally lands on the 
eastern coast from the ice ; and one came ashore at 
Bonavista, walked to Bird-Island Cove, where he 
again took the ice. He did no damage, and was evi- 
dently chary of the habitations of man. The black 
bear is often seen. It is the long-legged variety, and 
is very large. They live mostly on berries ; but late in 
the fall have been known to enter the lone " winter 
tilt " of the woodman, and devour all the pork and 
molasses they could find. They will run from man ; 
and are not savage except they are w^ounded, or have 
young. Their flesh is esteemed by the hunters. 

W^OLVES. 

The w^olves still roam in packs in the interior, and 
are seen in the track of the deer ; but they will not 

1 British Colonies, article Newfoundland, chap. IV. 



QUADRUPEDS. 61 

attack a man, or approach within gun-shot. A hunter 
informed the writer, that he, in company with another 
man, was once on the open barrens looking for deer -, 
when at a distance, they espied three wolves^ apparently 
following them. The men halted, and advanced toward 
the wolves ; soon the wolves stopped for a moment, 
and then ran away. The men now pursued their 
journey, when the wolves again turned and followed 
the men. Again they halted, expecting the animals 
would come within range. But not so ; when they 
halted, the wolves stopped ; and when the men ad- 
vanced toward them, they always ran, and kept out 
of harm's way. This continued for hours, the wolves 
keeping about the same distance. In the end, the men 
left the hungry canine prowlers of the desert to pursue 
their wolfish course. They will, however, sometimes 
approach quite near the dwellings of man, and destroy 
both sheep and cows. In the year 1842, these animals 
were troublesome near St. Johns. A trap w^as set, 
and one was caught by the fore-leg. The trap cut off 
his leg, and he escaped. He was afterwards shot ; 
and the following were his dimensions : 

ft. in. 
Length of the body, from the nose to the inser- 
tion of the tail 5 

Length of the tail I 6 

Total length ....... 6 6 

Height of the fore-shoulder .... 2 9 
Height at the haunch 2 8 

In the winter of 1834, the wolves were troublesome 
near Trinity, and killed several sheep and cattle. On 
the morning of January 20th, the writer was return- 
ing from English Harbor to Trinity, when he suddenly 
came upon the track of a large wolf, which, from the 



62 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

appearance In the light snow, he judged could have 
passed only a few minutes before. Shortly the track 
again crossed his path, and continued to cross his path at 
every fifty or hundred yards, until he came up with a 
man at work in the woods, who said the wolf had cer- 
tainly crossed less than ten minutes before ; and was 
sure the animal was in the thicket close by. We now 
went in pursuit ; but soon perceived that the wolf was 
aware of his danger, and made his escape. Observing 
the footprint to be very large, I took a piece of paper, 
and, with my pencil, traced it exactly as it was spread 
on the snow. The form of the track, as then taken, is 
now before me. It measures seven inches by nine. 
The animal was afterwards shot in a trap ; and the 
skin, when stuffed, measured, to the insertion of the tail, 
five feet, three inches, and its height a little over three 
feet. 

The species of fox usually taken is the red or 
yellow. It is taken in a trap. They are numer- 
ous. The patch, or cross fox, also the black, the blue, 
the white, and the silver fox, are natives of the island ; 
but the black and the silver fox are but seldom seen, 
and their skins are valuable. 

The beaver is plenty in some parts ; and the beaver- 
house and beaver-dam are often met with near the 
lakes in the interior. 

The hare is very plentiful. It is brown in the sum- 
mer, but becomes perfectly white in winter. 

The otter is met with on the streams to the west 
and the north of the island. 

The musquash, or muskrat, is abundant. Its habits 
are like the beaver, in building its house near the 
streams. 

The martin is found in many parts. 



BIRDS. 63 

REPTILES. 

There are no reptiles. Neither frog, toad, snake, nor 
lizard has ever been seen in any part of Newfoundland. 

BIRDS. 

The woods are certainly not jubilant with the songs 
of its feathered tribes ; yet its ornithology is worth the 
attention of the natural historian. 

Among the known birds are the osprey, or sea-eagle ; 
owls, in great numbers, and of several varieties ; the 
raven, the crow, and the blue-jay ; two kinds of wood- 
peckers, one of which is speckled. A bird, supposed 
by Sir R. Bonnycastle to be the rose-colored ouzel, is 
called a robin. The martin stays about ten weeks in 
summer. The yellow-willow wren is very common ; 
and the little wren is seen. The ferruginous thrush, 
the fly-catcher, the yellow-breasted chatterer, little 
black-cap, titmouse, the grossbeak, the snowbird, and 
the sparrow are also found. Here, also, is the ptarmi- 
gan, called the partridge. It is of a reddish-brown 
color in summer ; but, like the hare, it becomes white 
in winter. It is a fine bird, and very plenty. The 
plover, the bittern, curlew, snipe, wimbrel, and sand- 
piper are found in the woods, or on the barrens and 
marshes. 

Of water birds, there are the Canada and snow- 
goose, blue-winged teal, shoveller or great brown duck : 
the widgeon and the mallard are met with in the 
ponds. Of sea birds, there are the gull, lazy cor- 
morant, twe or baccalao bird, pin-tailed duck or 
sea-pheasant, eider duck, kittiwake, tern, ice-bird or 
sea-dove, goosander, noddy, loon, puffin, and razor-bill. 
The Newfoundland goose is a large and elegant bird. 



64 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and very plenty in the interior. It is of a swan-like 
form, with a black ring round its neck ; can easily be 
domesticated, but does not then breed. Half a cen- 
tury ago, the penguin was very plenty. It is a hand- 
some bird, about the size of a goose, with a coal-black 
head and back, a white belly, and a milk-white spot 
under the right eye. They cannot fly well ; their 
vv^ings are more like fins ; they have on their bodies 
short feathers and down. The penguin is now but sel- 
dom seen : such destruction of the bird was made for 
the sake of its feathers, that it is now all but extinct. 

Insects, such as mosquitoes, stinging midges, and 
flies, are in myriads. 

The ponds and streams abound in trout ; smelt 
inhabit the large lakes ; and great quantities of fine 
salmon are taken in or near the mouths of the larger 
streams. 

During the summer season, the sea is alive with her- 
ring and mackerel ; but above all are its inexhaustible 
shoals of codfish, which are its great source of wealth 
and commerce. 



CHAPTER III. 

DISCOVERY — HISTORY — FISHING ADMIRALS. 

THERE is a twofold tradition in reference to the 
discovery of Newfoundland by Europeans. One 
is, that it was discovered by Biarne, or Biorn, a 
sea-king, or pirate, from Ireland, who, being driven on 
the coast by contrary winds, is said to to have taken 
shelter in Port Grace, or Harbor Grace, about the 
year 1000. The other, that the island was first vis- 
ited some time in the eleventh century, by some 
Northmen from Scandinavia or Norway, who 
called it vine-land^ or wine-land^ or wine-herry-land, 
because of the vast quantities of hurts, or blue- 
berries, which are everywhere found, and of which 
these Northmen are said to have made wine. For 
these traditions, there is little or no foundation, and 
they are now considered as entirely fabulous; and 
Newfoundland appears to have been unknown to 
Europeans until near the close of the fifteenth century. 
The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, 
in the year 1492, had delighted the men of science, 
astonished the ignorant multitudes, and excited the 
ambition and cupidity of the reigning monarchs of 
Europe ; each of whom was anxious to gain possession 
of countries now knowm to exist west of the great 
Atlantic Ocean. Besides, as the true figure of the 
earth now began to be understood, a short way might 
be found to India and China ; moreover, countries 

6* (65) 



6Q NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

might be visited, whose auriferous soils would amply 
repay the cost of their discovery and conquest. 

In these occidental advantages, Henry VII. of Eng- 
land determined to share. He accordingly commis- 
sioned Giovani Gaboto, generally called John Cabot, a 
Venetian, to sail toward the setting sun, in order to 
make discoveries in his name. Two light ships, called 
caravels, were placed under his command, and five 
ships laden with goods for traffic supplied by the mer- 
chants of London. With this little fleet, Cabot sailed 
from Bristol in the month of May, 1497. His destina- 
tion was Cathay, or China ; to reach which he was to 
sail a west course. On the 24th of June, he saw land. 
It was not China, but land on which no European eye 
had yet gazed : it was the promontory since called Cape 
Bona vista. To this land he gave the name of Terra 
primum vista^ the ''Land first seen ; " from which, by 
some alteration in the words, but preserving the sense, 
was derived the name Newfoundland. 

Intent upon reaching China by this new route, he 
sailed to the north as far as lat. 67° 30', when he must 
have sighted some part of Greenland ; but, finding no 
north-west passage to the Pacific, he steered to the 
south, and entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, thus sail- 
ing round Newfoundland ; and, taking with him ten of 
the natives, he returned to England in the month of 
August, and was knighted by the king. Sir John 
Cabot made three subsequent voyages ; but no settle- 
ment of the countries he visited then took place, as the 
tide of Euroj)ean adventure flowed south, to Mexico 
and Peru. 

In 1500, Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese captain, 
visited the coast of North America, and, following the 
track of Sir John Cabot, he kidnapped several of the 



DISCOVERY. 67 

natives, and sold them for slaves. In 1502, Hugh 
Elliot and Thomas Aslmrst, English merchants, were 
authorized by Henry VII. to establish colonies in the 
countries discovered by Cabot ; but they do not appear 
to have availed themselves of this permission. 

The discoverers of Newfoundland must have carried 
back to Europe a surprising account of the quantity of 
fish on its coast, and of the advantage of prosecuting a 
fishery there; for in 1517, which was only twenty 
years from the time that Cabot first saw Cape Bona- 
vista, there were about fifty vessels, under the English, 
French, Spanish, and Portuguese flags, engaged in the 
fisheries. 

Seventeen years later, that was in 1534, Jacques 
Cartier, a navigator, and who had been engaged in 
fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, received a 
commission from Francis I., and with two small 
vessels, of sixty tons each, sailed from St. Maloes on 
the 20th of April, and arrived at Newfoundland on the 
10th of May. He remained there ten days ; then 
sailed north, passed through the Strait of Belle Isle, 
and, taking with him two natives, he returned to 
France on the 25th of July, and was received with 
honor by the. French king. 

About this time, several attempts were made to colo- 
nize Newfoundland, and we read of a '' Master Robert 
Hore," a merchant of London, who, "with divers 
other gentlemen," sailed in 1536, intending to remain 
on the island through the winter ; but the crew of tlie 
vessel were almost starved to death on the passage, and 
would have perished, had they not fallen in with a 
French ship, laden with provisions, which they seized 
and brought to England. Henry VIII. of England satis- 
fied the French claim for idemnity, and thereby pre- 



68 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

vented any misunderstanding between the govern- 
ments. 

Down to this period, and for more than forty years 
after, Newfoundland did not properly belong to any 
nation, but was a disputable territory, — a place where 
fishermen and traders of different countries resorted ; 
and, what was far worse, it became a rendezvous for 
pirates, who could here follow their nefarious practices 
with impunity. 

Britain was at that time just beginning to develop 
her naval strength ; and her ambitious Queen Elizabeth 
could allow no naval superiority in any foreign power, 
or permit the British flag to dip, except in compliment, 
to any nation, or suffer any nation to have more exten- 
sive colonies than were under her control. 

Accordingly, in 1579, Her Majesty, desirous of ob- 
taining advantage from the discoveries which Cabot 
had made eighty years before, but which as yet had 
been of little benefit, granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
half-brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, a patent for the 
" discovering or occupying and peophng such remote, 
heathen, and barbarous countries as were not actually 
possessed by any Christian people." 

After many disappointments and much delay, this 
noble and intrepid man, having sold his estate in Eng- 
land to realize pecuniary means, sailed from Plymouth 
on the 11th of June, 1583, with five ships and two 
hundred and fifty men. 

On the 11th of July, the fleet arrived off Newfound- 
land, and on Monday, August 5th, proceeded in state 
to St. Johns, to take formal possession of the island. 
A tent was pitched on the shore, the people were 
assembled, and the commission of the Queen of Eng- 
land was read. A twio; from a bush was then delivered 



SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 69 

to Sir Humphrey, who declared the island of New- 
foundland to beloncr to his sovereio;n and to the dominion 
and Crown of England. The people, with loud ac- 
clamations, promised obedience. There were thirty- 
six vessels of foreign nations then in St. Johns, the 
masters of which, and the merchants connected with the 
trade, all acknowledged the supremacy of the British 
Queen. A pillar was erected, upon which, in a plate 
of lead, was engraved the arms of the queen ; and 
from that time has the Island of Newfoundland be- 
longed to the Crown of England. A tax was also im- 
posed upon all ships who visited that port ; and the 
three following laws were promulgated for this new 
colony : 

1. That public worship should be celebrated accor- 
ding to the Church of England ritual. 

2. That anything which might be attempted preju- 
dicial to the Queen of England was, according to the 
laws of England, treason. 

3. That uttering of words to the dishonor of Her 
Majesty was to be punished with loss of ears and the 
confiscation of property. 

It was very right for Sir Humphrey Gilbert to say 
something about " public worship ; " yet it was more 
than one hundred years after this, that divine worship 
was performed in Newfoundland (except, perhaps, very 
occasionally) according to the " Church of England 
ritual," or in any other way, and more than one hun- 
dred and fifty years before public worship, to any ex- 
tent, was observed by the settlers. 

This gallant man. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was lost 
on his return voyage to England. On the 20th of 
August, Sir Humphrey sailed from St. Johns, with 
three of his ships, the '' Golden Hind," the " Little 



70 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Squirrel," and the " Delight," for Sable Island, to 
search for swine and cattle, said to have been landed 
there some thirty years previous. The " Delight " was 
lost on a sand-bank ; and no swine or cattle being found 
on the island, he determined to proceed to England, 
declaring that he " would fit out an expedition royally, 
and return next spring." The " Golden Hind " and 
the " Little Squirrel " left for England, Sir Humphrey 
taking passage in the smaller vessel. Repeatedly did 
his friends urge him to leave that nut-shell, and go on 
board the " Golden Hind." His reply was, " I will 
not forsake my little company, with whom I have 
passed so many storms and perils." 

The two vessels reached the Azores in safety, but 
there encountered a storm of so terrible a nature that 
made all hearts quail, except Sir Humphrey, who re- 
tained his courage and self-possession to the last. The 
"Golden Hind" kept as near the "Little Squirrel" 
as the mountain waves would permit. In the midst of 
the storm, the noble admiral was seen sitting calmly on 
the deck reading, and was heard to cheer the men on 
board of the " Golden Hind," as well as his own crew, 
with " Be of good cheer, for we are as near heaven by 
sea as on the land." But night came on ; it was fear- 
fully dark ; the lights of the " Little Squirrel " were 
seen for a time, but they suddenly disappeared : the 
" Little Squirrel," with all on board, foundered. 

Thus perished one of the bravest of the adventurers, 
who, in the glorious reign of Elizabeth, sought to ex- 
tend the dominion of Eno-land in the western world. ^ 

In 1585, two years after the death of Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, Sir Bernard Drake made a voyage to New- 
foundland, who now claimed the sovereignty of the 

^ See Bonnycastle's Newfoundland in 1842. 



HISTORY. 71 

island, and the sole right of its fisheries, in the name of 
Queen EHzabeth. He found several Portuguese ships, 
laden with fish and oil and furs ; these he seized as 
lawful prizes, and with them returned to England. 

A terrible war now raged with Spain ; and all Eng- 
land was in terror and consternation, because of the 
" Invincible Armada," that was to land upon her 
shores, conquer her armies, punish her sovereign for 
her heresy, and forever blot out the hated name of 
Protestant from the face of the earth. But divine 
power frustrated this wicked design ; the winds of 
heaven scattered and destroyed part of this invincible 
force ; Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and Howard, cap- 
tured several ships : the rest took flight. And thus 
was humbled the haughty monarch of Spain, and the 
God-honored Island of Britain was allowed to enjoy 
all the privileges of her reformed religion. Her do- 
minion was preserved in its integrity ; while she was 
destined to rise in such political importance, as to cause 
her counsels to be respected, and her power to be 
feared by every nation upon earth. 

The trouble in which the parent state was involved 
prevented her from paying much attention to a new 
colony so distant and unimportant as Newfoundland. 
It, was, therefore, twenty-five years after Sir Bernard 
Drake's visit, that another voyage was made there 
under royal authority. 

The island had been considered as belonging to Eng- 
land from the time of its discovery by Cabot, now more 
than one hundred years, and twenty-seven years had 
passed since it had been formally claimed in the name 
of the British Queen ; yet no effort had hitherto been 
made to colonize it, or preserve order among the rabble 
that visited its shores. 



72 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

In 1610, its colonization was first attempted ; for in 
that year James I. granted a patent to the Lord Chan- 
cellor Bacon, Lord Verulam, the Earl of Northampton, 
Lord Chief Baron Tanfield, Sir John Doddridge, and 
forty other persons, under the designation of the 
*' Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Plant- 
ers of the Cities of London and Bristol, for the Colony 
of Newfoundland." This patent granted the lands be- 
tween Capes St. Mary's and Bonavista, with the seas 
and islands lying within ten leagues of the coast, for 
the purpose of securing forever the trade of fishing 
to British subjects. 

In virtue of this patent, the first party of English 
settlers came out under the direction of Mr. Guy, an 
intelligent and enterprising merchant of Bristol. Mr. 
Guy and his party settled in Conception Bay. His 
reports of the island and its capabilities were very fa- 
vorable ; and, after nearly two years' residence there, he 
returned to England, leaving the infant colony in charge 
of William Colston, whose views and reports of the 
island were not so favorable. It is not improbable 
that Mr. Colston, at least in part, formed his opinion of 
-the island, from the serious fact that twenty-five of the 
settlers were seized with scurvy, six of whom died. 
The nineteen who recovered are stated to have owed 
their lives to the use of turnips as an article of food. 
Had that powerful antiscorbutic, spruce heer^ — now 
so generally used in Newfoundland, — been then known, 
possibly those cases of scurvy would not have happened. 
Mr. Guy went back to the island, in the summer of 
1612, when he made a survey of the coast, and ex- 
erted himself in every way for the arrangement of the 
colony. The aborigines, or Red Indians, were then 
lords of the soil. They knew nothing of the white 



HISTORT. 



n 



man's gun, and therefore came, and held friendly inter- 
course with Guy, as he coasted along their shores. 

In performing his survey, he met " with two canoes 
of Red Indians, with whom he held friendly inter- 
course." In what part of the island this took place, 
we are not informed. It might have been in Concep- 
tion Bay ; for there is a place on the north shore of 
that bay, called " Ochre-Pit Cove," where, tradition 
says, the aborigines used to get red ochre, wherewith 
to paint their bodies. 

Little more is known of this man than what we 
have related. He, it is supposed, soon after abandoned 
the settlement, which in consequence quickly lan- 
guished. 

The first settlers had no government, or police, or 
power of any kind, to restrain evil, or punish delin- 
quencies ; anarchy, therefore, soon prevailed among 
them ; and the motley groups of lawless bands in St. 
Johns and other places, who had come there for the 
purpose of fishing, perpetrated crimes wuth impunity. 
To remedy these evils, and to reduce this moral chaos 
to order, in 1615, Captain Whitbourne, — a contem- 
porary of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Bernard 
Drake, — who had himself made many voyages to New- 
foundland, was sent there, with a commission from the 
admiralty, to establish order, investigate the abuses 
complained of by the fishermen, and repress the fla- 
grant dishonesty too generally manifested. Immedi- 
ately on his arrival, one hundred and seventy masters 
of vessels submitted themselves to his jurisdiction ; and 
he endeavored to empanel juries in the most fre- 
quented harbors. It was not long that Captain Whit- 
bourne exerci&ed his judicial powers ; for, two years 
after, we find him as chief of a body of Welch settlers, 

7 



74 . NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

sent out by Doctor Vauglian to form a settlement in 
a harbor in Fortune Bay, which was then called Cam- 
briot, now Harbor Britain, on land purchased from the 
patentees. 

In 1623, another party of settlers came out, under 
the direction of Sir George Calvert, afterward Lord 
Baltimore. 

This has been called the first settlement of New- 
foundland. There had been two attempts to colonize 
it before this time, as we have related: one in 1610, 
under Guy, the other in 1617, under Captain Whit- 
bourne ; and, although some of the settlers remained, 
yet in neither of these cases was the plan successful ; 
therefore the year 1623 is considered as the time when 
the island was settled. 

Sir George Calvert was an Irishman and a Roman 
Catholic. He obtained a large tract of land on the 
eastern coast, between Bay Bulls and Cape St. Mary's, 
where, with a number of his countrymen and co- 
religionists, he took up his residence, making Ferry- 
land his head-quarters. To his Newfoundland estate 
he gave the name of Avalon, from the ancient name of 
Glastonburg, the place where tradition says Christian- 
ity was first preached in England. 

Lord Baltimore built a handsome residence in Ferry- 
land, erected a strong fort, formed salt-works, and 
gathered around him a prosperous settlement. He re- 
sided there about twenty years, when he returned to 
England ; when, through the favor of Charles I., he 
went out to colonize Maryland, from whence arose the 
fine city, in that state, which still bears his name. 

By the year 1640, fifteen or sixteen settlements had 
been formed in different parts of the coast, including 
about three hundred and fifty families. 



FISHING ADMIRALS. 76 

In 1635, the king granted permission to the French 
to cure and dry fish on the land, on condition of pay- 
ing five per cent, of the produce. Encouraged by this, 
the French afterwards formed a settlement in Placentia 
Bay, which they long continued to occupy, and which 
was a source of trouble to the British settlers. 

In 1633, the king issued a document, directed to the 
Lord Treasurer and others, commanding them *' to 
erect a common fishery, as a nursery for seamen ;^^ 
and, at the same time, exempting the British fisheries 
from " tax or toll." In this same year the first laws 
were promulgated by royal authority, and called " regu- 
lations for the governing of his majesty's subjects, in- 
habiting Newfoundland, or trafficking in bays.'''' The 
pui'port of these laws was, first, that all persons who 
committed murder, or theft above forty shillings, should 
be taken to England for trial ; second, that no buildings, 
erected for prosecuting the fishery, should be destroyed 
at the end of the voyage ; third, that the master of the 
first fishing-vessel, arriving at any port, should be admi- 
ral of the same during the season. 

The two first laws were good ; but the third, or gov- 
ernment by the fishing admirals, was perhaps the most 
monstrous law that ever disgraced any free colony of 
the British nation. These fishing admirals were arbi- 
trary men, and grossly ignorant. They were all 
either traders or common fishermen ; and, in time, they 
improved upon the law ; for the first captain of an Eng- 
lish vessel, who arrived in port in the spring, would be 
admiral, the second rear-admiral, the third vice-admiral, 
and the fourth post-captain. 

These admirals were empowered to " settle all dis- 
putes among the fishermen, and enforce due attention to 
certain acts of parliament." In their judicial charac- 



76 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

ter, they would decide cases, according to their caprice, 
OA^er a bottle of rum ; and frequently would inflict sum- 
mary punishment, by flogging the culprit with a rope's 
end. 

This iniquitous system continued for nearly one hun- 
dred years. It began, indeed, to decline in the early 
part of the last century ; but it was only about the 
time of the revolutionary war that it entirely ceased. 
In the year 1823, the writer made a voyage to the 
westward, in the ship Duck, Captain Nicholas, who 
was then about seventy years of age. He well re- 
membered the fishing admirals ; and he himself had 
once chanced to be a post-captain. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DISPLANTING THE INHABITANTS — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED — FRENCH IN 
PLACENTIA — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED A SECOND TIME — GOVERNOR 
OSBORNE — SURROGATE COURTS — ST. JOHNS CAPTURED A THIRD 
TIME — GREAT STORM — ADMIRAL RICHERY — FIRST NEWSPAPER 

— ST. JOHNS BURNED — THE RALS — SIR THOMAS COCHRANE — 
FIRST PARLIAMENT — STEAMERS — VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES 

— TABLES AND STATISTICS. 

SOON after the discovery of the island«by Cabot, the 
fishery gave employment to a number of British 
ships ; and it was seen that those fisheries would prove 
beneficial not only to commerce, but would become a 
nursery for seamen, to man the royal navy. As far 
back as the year 1549, an act of parliament was passed 
for the " better encourasement of the fisheries of New- 
foundland." In the reign of Queen Elizabeth there 
were two hundred and sixty ships employed in the 
fisheries ; and it was mainly from the fishermen of these 
vessels that she manned her fleets which defeated the 
powerful Spanish Armada. 

Charles I., in a commission for " well governing his 
subjects in Newfoundland," says : " The navigators and 
mariners of the realm have been much increased by the 
Newfoundland fisheries." 

Beneficial, however, as these fisheries were to the 
mother country, yet they met with serious opposition 
in England ; and, what was worse, the government 
gave its aid in the persecution of the people, and for 
the destruction of this important and rising colony, 
which it had employed so much effort, and expended so 

7* (77^ 



78 'NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

much money on, to brino; to its then prosperous condition. 
The cause of this opposition was the jealousy between 
tlie two parties engaged respectively in the bank and 
in the shore fisheries. 

In the commencement, the fishery was mostly car- 
ried on by vessels which came from England in the 
spring, fished on the banks, and returned in the fall, 
visiting the land only to make or cure their fish. This 
was called the " bank-fishery." But when settlers 
came, and made the island their home, they built fish- 
ing-boats, and fished near the land. This was the 
" shore-fishery." There was really no conflicting in- 
terest here, for there was fish enough for both parties. 

Nevertheless, a bad feeling existed between them.. 
Sir Josiah Child had vessels engaged in the bank-fishery, 
and, in the year 1670, he published a pamphlet to prove 
that the bank-fishery, which employed those seamen 
who so often had manned the ships of war, was seri- 
ously injured by the boat or shore fishery, and that it 
had declined to a great extent ; for while, in the year 
1605, it employed two hundred and fifty vessels, it at 
that time employed only eighty. He imputed this de- 
cline to the shore fishery carried on by the settlers; 
and said, if the shore-fishery were permitted to increase, 
it would in time " engross the whole business, and tlras 
the nursery for seamen would be destroyed." He there- 
fore advised that no more emigration should take place 
to Newfoundland, and that those persons and families, 
who had already settled there, should be displanted. 

In our day no civilized government would pay any 
attention to such advice ; while a proposition like that 
offered by Sir Josiah Child would be universally de- 
nounced as absurd, unjust, and barbarous. It was not 
so regarded in those days. Three years before the 



DTSPLANTIXG THE INHABITANTS. 79 

above-named pamphlet was issued, the settlers had 
applied for a governor ; but the merchants and ship- 
owners engaged in the bank-fishery opposed the ap- 
plication, and it was rejected. In the year 1674, the 
application for a governor was renewed, when it was 
not only again rejected, but the advice of Sir Josiah 
Child was adopted by the " Board of Trade and Plan- 
tations ; " and, at its instance, the government issued 
what was called the ''Western Charter," by which, 
while encouragement is given to the fisheries, yet the 
bank-fisheries are only intended by that expression ; 
for all persons are in that charter prohibited from " set- 
tling on the shores or coasts of the island ; " and " no 
inhabitant allowed to live within six miles of the sea ; 
and that any person transgressing this law might be 
driven out of the country. 

This foolish and wicked law was actually put in 
force ; and Sir John Berry was sent to Newfoundland, 
with orders for the deportation of the inhabitants, the 
destruction of their houses, and the entire uprooting 
of that thriving colony. Berry was a humane man : 
he sent home strong remonstrances against the law, 
and very reluctantly carried out his commission. Still 
much misery was occasioned : many houses were 
burned, many outrages committed, and a number of 
persons were innocently expelled from the land of their 
adoption. This persecution lasted for two years, when 
Mr. Downing, one of the residents, obtained an order 
from the king, Charles II., to prevent any further per- 
secution of the people. But this order, while it pre- 
vented the further deportation of the settlers, also con- 
tained strict injunctions, forbidding " any vessel to 
take out emigrants, or any person to settle' in New- 
foundland." This occurred in 1676. 



80 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

For twenty years did the prohibition of emigra- 
tion to Newfoundland continue, during which time, 
constant complaints were made to the government 
that the laws in this case were evaded ; while counter 
representations were made by those who were favora- 
ble to the settlement of the country. It is satisfactory 
to know that no further rigorous measures were taken ; 
and, in 1697, the " Board of Trade and Plantations " 
published a report, that " a number of inhabitants, not 
exceeding one thousand, might be usefully employed 
in constructing boats, stages for drying fish, and other 
matters connected with the fisheries." 

The permission that had been given to the French, 
" to cure and dry fish," and the connivance at their 
settlement in Placentia, caused the English much 
trouble in the reign of William III. One cause of 
war with France, at this time, was set forth in these 
words : " That of late the encroachments of the French 
upon Newfoundland and His Majesty's subjects' trade 
and fishery there, had been more like the invasions on 
an enemy than becoming friends, who enjoyed the ad- 
vantages of that trade only hy permission.''^ 

During the war with France, which raged in this 
reign, NcAvfoundland was several times the scene of 
fearful conflicts between the contending hosts. The 
French, having had possession of Placentia for more 
than half a century, had strongly fortified it ; so that 
when it was attacked by a squadron under Commander 
Williams, it so far resisted the attack, that the British 
succeeded only in destroying the works on Point 
Vesti, at the entrance of the harbor. The garrison 
still remained in the hands of the French. This oc- 
curred in September, 1692. 

In 1696, four years later. Chevalier Nesmond ar- 



CAPTURE OF ST. JOHNS. 81 

rived witli a Frencli squadron, and, aided by the force 
on the island, attacked St. Johns, but failed, and re- 
turned to France. Before the close of the year, an- 
other Frencli squadron, under Brouillon, arrived, who, 
in concert with Ibberville, the military commander, 
again attacked St. Johns, which being short of mili- 
tary stores, and in a defenceless state, was compelled 
to surrender ; upon which the town and garrison were 
burned, and the troops sent to England on parole. 

Ibberville, having captured and destroyed St. Johns, 
proceeded along the coast, and with sword and fire he 
destroyed all the British stations, except Carbonear 
and Bonavista, which w^ere successfully defended 
against his attacks. '' The dogs of war " were now 
fairly let loose or that unhappy island, to possess which, 
both England and France determined to contend to 
the uttermost. The news of this French invasion 
reached England, when a British squadron, with 
fifteen hundred men on board, was dispatched to re- 
cover the lost territory ; but unfortunately, either 
ignorance or cowardice, or both, prevented the British 
commanders. Admiral Nevil and Sir John Gibson, 
from retrieving the honor of their country's flag. 

For two years did the homes of the persecuted 
Newfoundlanders lie waste, until the peace of Rys- 
wick, in 1697, put an end to hostilities, and placed 
matters in that country in a similar position to what 
they were before the war commenced. 

By this time, the government saw the folly of 
deporting the people from the island, and not only 
discontinued all persecution in that way, but declared 
Newfoundlind '-^free to all his majesty's subjects." 
Several acts of parliament were now passed, regulating 
the fisheries ; and the importation of fish, taken by 



82 . NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONAKTES. 

foreigners in foreign vessels, was strictly prohibited. 
The preamble of the act 10th and lltli William and 
Mary declares, that " the trade and fisheries of New- 
foundland is a beneficial trade to the kingdom, in the 
employing of a great number of seamen and ships, to 
the increase of her majesty's revenue, and the encour- 
aojement of trade and navio;ation." 

Thus far, there was neither gospel nor law in New- 
foundland ; and the fishing admirals were the only 
executive then known. The money-loving merchants 
of that day were favorable to this system, because these 
admirals were their paid servants, or the captains 
of their own ships, and they could fee, or control their 
decisions, and thus govern the people at their will. 

In 1702, war again broke out between England and 
France, when Sir John Leake was dispatched by 
Queen Anne, with a British squadron, to take posses- 
sion of the whole island ; and although he did not fully 
succeed, yet he captured twenty-nine sail of French 
ships, and with this booty he returned to England 
in the autumn. 

In 1705, the French garrison of Placentia was rein- 
forced by five hundred men from Canada, when they 
destroyed several British settlements, and carried their 
devastation as far north as Bonavista. The following 
year, a British force under Captain Underdown de- 
stroyed a number of French ships, and drove the enemy 
from their recent conquests. The British parhament, 
now alive to the importance of Newfoundland as a 
colony, earnestly entreated tlie queen to " use her 
royal endeavors to recover and preserve the ancient 
possessions, trade, and fisheries of Newfoundland." 

But little attention was paid to this address of parlia- 
ment, and the French, aware of tlie inadequate British 



THE FISHERIES. 83 

force, determined to expel all tlie English from the 
island. Accordingly, St. Ovide, the French com- 
mander at Placentia, was despatched with a force 
acrainst the British. He landed at Bay of Bulls without 
being discovered, marched over the frozen ground, and 
attacked and completely destroyed St. Johns on the 
1st of January, 1708. After which, the French seized 
almost every English station on the island except 
Carbonear, which again nobly defended itself against 
their attack. 

Newfoundland was now virtually in the power of 
the French, and would have continued so but for the 
brilliant success of the British arms on the continent 
of Europe. This war terminated with the celebrated 
Treaty of Utrecht-, by which the French were com- 
pelled to concede the exclusive sovereignty of New- 
foundland and the adjacent islands to Great Britain ; 
reserving only a right to the subjects of France to cure 
and dry fish on the coast, lying between Cape Bona- 
vista on the eastern side, and Point Rich on the west- 
ern ; also to occupy the small islands of St. Pierre and 
Miquelon, with a police force of fifty men. 

Both the English and the French settlements now 
prospered, so that in the year 1721, eight years after 
the peace, the French employed four hundred vessels 
in the trade ; and not only supplied France with fish, 
but rivalled the British in the fish-trade in the ports of 
Spain and the Mediterranean. The British settle- 
ments also, notwithstanding all the disadvantages under 
which they labored, continued rapidly to advance in 
population and in interest, so that in the year 1729, the 
island, which had hitherto been under the nominal 
administration of Nova Scotia, was now withdrawn 
from that position, and constituted into a separate 
province. 



8i NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Bat the government of this new province was a 
great difficulty. In many parts, the people were com- 
pletely lawless: they fought, quarrelled, and commit- 
ted all kinds of crime without restraint ; and rule by 
the fishing admirals was anarchy itself. To remedy 
this. Captain Henry Osborne, of her majesty's navy, 
was appointed governor and commander-in-chief; but, 
by his commission, was required to obey the instruc- 
tions of Lord Vere Beauclerc, the naval commander 
stationed at Newfoundland. 

Governor Osborne divided the island into districts, 
appointed justices of the peace and other officers in 
those districts ; and copies of " Shaw's Practical Jus- 
tice of the Peace " were given to those newly-appointed 
officers, to guide them in their decisions. He also 
levied a rate of a half a quintal of fish on all fishing- 
rooms and fishing-boats, for the purpose of building 
jails and putting up stocks, that the justices might 
have the means of punishing offenders. He likewise 
appointed a new class of magistrates, called '•^floating 
surrogates."' These were captains of ships of war, who 
were empowered to hold courts in the different harbors 
they visited, and " determine in a summary way all 
suits and complaints of a civil nature within the island 
of Newfoundland." In time, besides the floating 
surrogates, resident surrogates were also appointed, 
with equal powers ; and for nearly one hundred years 
the laws in the out-harbors were administered either 
by the magistrates, who had jurisdiction in cases of a 
civil nature not exceeding forty shillings, or by the 
surrogates, who had power to decide all cases not 
exceeding forty pounds. 

The surrogate court was certainly an improvement 
upon the court of the fishing admirals, which now 



ST. JOHNS CAPTURED A THIRD TIME. 85 

began to decline, and in time became extinct. The 
surrogate courts continued down to tlie year 1826, 
when the charge of '■' partial and corrupt administra- 
tion of justice " having been preferred against them to 
the Imperial government, and particularly in the case 
of flogging a civilian by the joint order of a clerical 
and a floating surrogate, the surrogate courts were 
abolished by royal authority. 

But to return : the new state of things made by 
Governor Osborne was violently opposed by the fishing 
admirals, and some of the new-made justices were quite 
as" ignorant as they were ; while others of them thought 
their oflice as justice of the peace interfered with them 
in the way of trade, and brought upon them the ill-will 
of the people. 

In 1741, a court of vice-admiralty was , established ; 
and in 1751, a court of oyer and terminer for the 
trial of felons, instead of sending them to England for 
trial. 

Newfoundland, although it had been ceded to Eng- 
land for fifty years, yet lacked sufficient force, both 
naval and military, to protect her coasts in the time of 
danger. It was so in 1762, when a French squadron 
arrived in the Bay of Bulls, proceeded overland as it 
had done in 1708, and finding the small garrison in 
St. Johns unable to defend itself, they were made 
prisoners of war, and the town, for the third time, fell 
into the hands of the French. From St. Johns, the 
French proceeded to Carbonear and Trinity, where 
they committed all sorts of depredations. Intelligence 
of this occurrence was communicated to Lord Colville, 
the British commander-in-chief, then stationed in 
Halifax, who immediately sailed for Newfoundland. 
When the British admiral arrived off* St. Johns, he 



86 . NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

found a superior French force, under Admiral de Ter- 
nay, lying at anchor within the harbor. Previous to 
the arrival of Lord Colville, the settlers had them- 
selves made arrano;ements for assistino- in an attack 
upon the French. Robert Carter, of Fenyland, and 
Mr. Brooks, of Bay of Bulls, had, at their own 
expense, collected a number of bank-fishing or western 
boats, cut them dow^n, and had made them into row- 
galleys, ready for an emergency. His lordship availed 
himself of these Newfoundland galleys : he manned 
them with fishermen, and placed them under the com- 
mand of Mr. Carter and Mr. Brooks. He embarked 
a number of the military on board of, this little fleet, 
and in the evening despatched them to Torbay, which 
is seven miles to the north of St. Johns. The expe- 
dition arrived at Torbay the next morning, and the 
troops, under command of Colonel Amherst, immedi- 
ately marched for St. Johns. In the meantime. Lord 
Colville, who was now off St. Johns, made a feint of 
landing his troops- at Quidy Widy, when a sharp contest 
ensued. The English fought desperately up Signal 
Hill, but for a time seemed likely to fail. Just then 
the troops from Torbay arrived, and the victory was in 
favor of the British. The French admiral, seeinor his 
danger, took advantage of a thick fog, ran out of the 
harbor, and passed the British fleet without being 
observed. On the 10th of February following (1763), 
was signed the famous Treaty of Paris, which again 
put an end to hostilities, and gave Newfoundland back 
to Great Britain, as settled by the Treaty of 
Utrecht in 1713. 

In the year 1763, Labrador was annexed to the 
government of Newfoundland. 

In 1764, under Governor Sir Hugh Palliser, a 



GREAT STORM. 87 

custom-house was established in St. Johns ; and, the 
year following, the " Navigation Laws " were ex- 
tended to Newfoundland. 

DurincT the American revolutionary war, the trade 
of Newfoundland suffered severely by privateers, and 
also for want of provisions, which used to be extensively 
supplied from the New England States : in conse- 
quence, flour rose to twenty-five and thirty dollars, 
and pork to fifty dollars, per barrel. But money was 
plenty, for the fishery was good ; and merchantable 
fish was worth nine dollars per quintal. 

While Newfoundland was suffering in her commerce, 
in consequence of the American struggle for independ- 
ence, she suffered more by a most terrible gale of 
v/ind, which covered her coasts with wrecks. Heavy 
storms and wrecks are of frequent occurrence ; but 
the tornado of 1775 has, in Newfoundland, caused 
that year to be emphasized as " the year of the great 
stomi." An unprecedented furious gale of wind 
sprung up from the east, which caused the ocean 
waves to lash the shore with awful power; the sea 
rose twenty feet above its usual height, carrying away 
fishing-stages, fish-houses, flakes, and dwelling-houses : 
while the wrecks of seven hundred vessels and fishing- 
boats were scattered along the shores, the greater part 
of whose crews had perished in the water. 

In 1783, a brief peace was restored, and the Treaty 
of Versailles, signed on the 3d of September, once 
more brought tranquillity to the island, and fixed the 
boundaries of the British possessions, and the French 
Shore, which are the boundaries in the present day. In 
1785, the resident population was estimated at about 
10,000, with near 8,000 acres of land under cultivation. 

In 1789, a Court of Common Pleas was established 



00 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS, MISSIONARIES. 

by the then Governor, Admiral Milbank. In 1792, a 
Supreme Court was established, designated the " Su- 
preme Court of Newfoundland," of which John Reeves, 
Esq., was the Chief Justice. Surrogate Courts were 
also established in the principal districts of the island. 
On the breaking out of the French revolution, war 
was aiiain declared between England and France. 
This time, Newfoundland suffered but little of the 
horrors of war ; for the British squadron on its coasts, 
was sufficient to protect it from all the power of 
France. France, indeed, did not want the will to 
annoy the inhabitants of the island, but her naval 
force was not sufficient to do much damage. She, 
however, made an attempt once more upon St. Johns, 
which, in this case, proved a complete failure. 

In the year 1796, on the morning of the 1st of 
September, a formidable French fleet appeared off St. 
Johns : it consisted of seven sail of the line, two 
frigates, and several small vessels of war, under the 
command of Admiral Richery. The flag-ship and 
one frigate was all the Bntish naval force then in the 
harbor ; but Admiral Sir James Wallace was then 
governor, — a man of sound judgment, and indomitable 
in war. Beside, the defences of the harbor had been 
greatly improved since the French invasion of 1762. 
A large platform had been built on South Point, called 
the Duke of York's Battery, on which were mounted 
eight twenty-four pounder guns, three or four eighteen 
pounder carronades, and two ten-inch mortars. Fort 
Amherst, on the south side, was in a good state, 
and preparations were made for throwihg red- 
hot shot. Every possible arrangement was made 
by the British Admiral to meet the emergency. 
The flag-ship and the frigate were placed at proper 



FRENCH WAR. 89 

distances, so as to command the Narrows ; the large 
chain was stretched across, from the Chain Rock 
to the Pancake ; and three schooners, filled with com- 
bustibles, and intended to be used as fire-ships, were 
placed in readiness. " The Royal Newfoundland 
Regiment," which had been formed during the sum- 
mer, was then considered in an efficient state : 
volunteer companies of artillery, besides the regular 
troops, were in the garrison. Martial law was pro- 
claimed in the town ; and all the men fit to bear 
arms, whether merchants, clerks, store-keepers, sailors, 
or fishermen, were mustered and ready for action. 
The French fleet stood off and on for three days, without 
attacking, or making any attempt to land. On the third 
day, they formed a line of battle, and stood in for the 
Narrows. Every one now expected a terrible conflict to 
commence ; but not so. The van ship of the enemy came 
within long range of the guns at Fort Amherst, and a 
shot was fired at her from Signal Hill, which was not 
only not replied to, but most unexpectedly did the 
whole fleet put about, and stood off to sea. They 
continued in sight for several days, then bore away to 
the south, to Bay Bulls, which, in a most cowardly 
manner, they burnt, and drove the poor, defenceless 
people into the woods. Shortly after this dastardly 
act, the fleet sailed entirely away, since which time no 
foreign enemy has ever attempted to invade the island. 
During the remainder of this long French war, the 
colony suffered but little from its effects, as her coasts 
were well guarded by British ships ; and her markets, 
which were principally the different ports of Spain and 
Portugal, were generally kept open by the British navy. 
A career of steady prosperity now attended her, and 
rapidly did she increase in wealth and influence. In tlie 

8* 



90 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

year 1814, at the close of the war, her exports are said 
to liave reached the large sum of ^2,831,528 sterling. 

The first newspaper was issued in 1807. It was 
called " The Royal Gazette : " its publisher was Mr. 
John Ryan. This was the dawn of literature upon 
that dark and long-neglected island. It was a weekly 
publication, and continued to be published in the same 
family for near half a century. For thirteen years, 
" The Royal Gazette " was the only issue from the 
Newfoundland press ; but in 1820, Mr. Henry Winton 
issued the " Public Ledger," a well conducted, and a 
very respectable paper. The third paper was " The 
Newfoundlander ; " then " The Newfoundland Times; " 
and several others followed. The number of papers 
issued on the island in 1864 was eleven. 

In 1815, the prosperity of Newfoundland received a 
check, when, at the close of the American war, the great 
price of fish suddenly fell from five or six dollars to 
two : this, with a partial failure of the fisheries, which 
happened at the same time, caused the ruin of several 
commercial houses, and involved many families in 
want and suffering. Besides this, on the 12th of the 
following February (1816), a most fearful conflagration 
laid a great part of St. Johns in ashes. The property 
destroyed was estimated at more than .£100,000 
sterlino; ; and 1,500 human beino;s were left homeless 
and penniless, in the midst of the frost and storms 
of a Newfoundland winter. To the honor of the 
citizens of Boston, let it be recorded, that, as soon 
as the news of this calamity readied them, they at 
once loaded a vessel with provisions, and clothing, sent 
her down to St. Johns, in that inclement season, and 
there gratuitously bestowed those provisions and neces- 
saries upon the suffering and starving poor. 



SCARCITY OF FOOD. 91 

But other calamities followed in succession. The 
next year, 1817, on the 7th of November, a second and 
more destructive fire broke out in the same town. 
Upon this occasion, in the short space of nine hours, 
thirteen large mercantile establishments, well stocked 
with provisions for the coming winter, with one hun- 
dred and forty dwelling-houses, were entirely con- 
sumed. The loss in property this time was estimated 
at £500,000 sterling. And a third lire occurred on 
the 21st of the same month, when fifty-six more houses, 
besides wharves and stores, were consumed. 

These calamities spread a deep gloom upon the 
minds of the people ; and for a time it seemed as though 
the entire abandonment of the Colony would take place 
at no distant period. 

The w^inter that followed — that is, the w^inter of 
1817-18 — was a time of great distress, both in St. Johns 
and in the different harbors of Conception Bay. The 
people wanted food, and in their desperation broke 
open several stores and dwelling-houses ; but they 
committed other depredations besides their search for 
food, and generally would use the word Ral^ as a 
watch-word to their companions in crime. Hence, 
this winter was called by the people of Conception 
Bay, " The winter of the Rals.''^ 

A few years after, the fishery improved ; the fish 
commanded a higher price in the foreign markets, and 
a brighter day dawned upon the island. But the sys- 
tem of jurisprudence was defective, and against the ' 
floating-surrogate system loud complaints were heard 
fi'om all parts of the island. The Imperial Parlia- 
ment took up the matter : it abolished the Surrogate 
Courts, and established a Supreme Court, consisting of 
a chief justice and two assistant judges. The island 



92 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

was divided into three " Circuits," Northern, Central, 
and Southern, in which three separate courts were 
held, each presided over by one of the three judges. 
The Supreme Court was empowered to admit qualified 
attorneys to practice in the different courts, and to 
grant letters of administration and probates of wills. 
An appeal is permitted from the Circuit Courts to the 
Supreme Court, and from the Supreme Court to the 
Queen in Council. Courts of Quarter Sessions were 
now also established, and a sheriff appointed from year 
to year. 

In 1825, Sir Thomas Cochrane, R.N., was appointed 
Governor. Newfoundland was then in a transition 
state, passing from lawlessness into order, and from 
ignorance, arising from an almost destitution of schools, 
to that of education and position among the Provinces 
of the British Empire. 

To promote this change, Sir Thomas gave all the 
weight of his influence and his constant personal atten- 
tion. He completed the first road in the country, 
which was from St. John t^ Portugal Cove, and the 
second, from Harbor Grace to Carbonear. He sailed 
along the shores, entered many of the harbors, and 
conversed with all sorts of people on the affairs of the 
island. He travelled miles in the country, through its 
bushes and bogs, to form for himself a judgment of its 
soil ; and he sent circulars into all the out-harbors to 
get the opinion of the people in reference to a Colonial 
Parliament. His most decided opinion was, that much 
of its soil was capable of a high state of cultivation ; 
that it had come to a state when it ouo;ht to have a 
local legislature ; that such a constitution w^ould be 
greatly for the benefit of the people ; and that it ought 
at once to be granted by the Imperial Government. 



FIRST PARLIAMENT. 93 

The opinion of Sir Thomas was severely criticised and 
held up to ridicule ; and pamphlets, both in defence and 
in opposition to his judgment, issued -from the press, 
both in the colony and in England. From a pamphlet 
written in opposition, by a writer who called himself 
"A Poole Merchant," we make the following extract : — 

" That the climate is uncongenial to cultivation is well known, 
and is confirmed by the fact, that in this present year (1828), so 
late as the beginning of May, the snow laid on the ground, and the 
frost was so intense, that the common operations of domestic gar- 
dening could not be commenced. The winter commenced early 
in December, and the frost was intense and continued, the ther- 
mometer often standing at 15° below zero." 

This writer showed his utter ignorance of a North- 
American winter, and its influence upon the cultivation 
of the soil. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and 
Prince Edward Island, the winter usually commences 
in December : the thermometer often stands for weeks 
at about 15° below zero, and sometimes falls more than 
30° below. The snow also continues on the ground, 
so that '' domestic gardening " is rarely commenced 
before the month of May. Yet who that has ever 
seen the beautiful corn-fields of Prince Edward Island, 
the productive orchards of Annapolis Valley, or the 
rich uplands on the St. John's River, will say the cli- 
mate is uncongenial for cultivation ? 

Sir Thomas was successful ; for, in the year 1832, 
His Majesty William IV. gi'anted a Representative 
Constitution to Newfoundland ; and on the 1st day of 
January, 1833, the first session of the Colonial Parlia- 
ment was opened by Sir Thomas Cochrane in person. 

In a very few years, the benefit of this measure be- 
came apparent. At the time of its colonization, except 
in the vicinity of St. Johns, scarcely a house, a gar- 



94 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

den, or a potato-field, was to be seen one mile from the 
shore. Now, good roads were opened in various direc- 
tions ; the land was cultivated ; carriages of every form 
rolled along the roads in the summer, and the jingle of 
the sleigh-bells was heard in winter. Education was 
promoted ; the arts and sciences were encouraged ; 
temperance societies and other philanthropic institu- 
tions were organized. In fact, all those adjuncts to 
civilized life were introduced, which are calculated to 
elevate the mind, and make the inhabitants of New- 
foundland an intelligent and an enlightened people. 

In 1840, on the 5th of November, the town of St. 
Johns was enlivened by the appearance of the first 
steamer that ever visited her harbor. It was H. M. 
Steamer Spitfire^ which had come wdth a detachment of 
men for the Royal Veteran Companies. The sight was 
novel, and many persons went on board to examine 
the machinery. 

In the same year, a company was incorporated by 
the Newfoundland Lecrislature, to run a steamboat 
between Halifax and St. Johns, toward the expenses 
of which, the Nova Scotia Legislature granted £500 
per annum for three years. 

Before the measure contemplated by this company 
was carried into effect, a second steamer came upon 
the coast. It was the John McAdam, which had pre- 
viously been employed between Cork and Liverpool, 
and was now offered for sale. She arrived at St. 
Johns on the 4th of August, 1842. 

Two or three days after her arrival, she made a trip 
to the north, with about fifty ladies and gentlemen on 
board. She passed Cape St. Francis, ran up the south 
shore of Conception Bay nearly to Portugal Cove, then 
round the western end of Belle Isle to Brigus, in the 



VISIT OF PRINCE OF WALES. 95 

harbor, of which she made a sweep, and stopped her 
engines a few minutes, so as to gratify the curiosity of 
the people. She then proceeded to Port De Grave, 
and made a similar sweep. She passed next to Car- 
bonear, and, leaving that harbor, she entered the port 
of Harbor Grace, where she remained for the night. 

Very early the next morning, she weighed anchor, 
and, proceeding down the north shore, she passed be- 
tween th6 Island of Bacalieu and the main land ; then 
crossed the spacious Bay of Trinity, and entered the 
beautiful and picturesque Harbor of Trinity, where she 
remained for a time, then returned to St. Johns. This 
was the first opportunity the people of Newfoundland 
ever had of making a steamboat trip on their own shores. 

The first royal mail-steamer ever employed in 
Newfoundland was the North America, Captain R. 
Meagher. She arrived in St. Johns at eight o'clock 
on Monday morning, April 22d, 1844 ; since which 
time steamboat communication has been regular be- 
tween that harbor and Halifax. 

In the year 1860, on the occasion of the visit of His 
Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, to America, his 
first landing was at St. Johns, on the morning of July 
4th. The city w^as handsomely decorated with tri- 
umphal arches, flags, and evergreens, and the mul- 
titude was so great, that it seemed as if the whole 
population of the island had gathered in that city to wel- 
come their future king. Amidst the thunder of can- 
non, the ringing of bells, and the cheers of thousands. 
His Royal Highness was received by Governor Ban- 
nerman, and a guard of honor, formed by the Newfound- 
land corps, and escorted to Government House by a 
long and splendid procession. After the presentation 
of addresses by different bodies, the Prince held a levee, 



96 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



at which were introduced to His Royal Highness the 
principal gentlemen of the island. He then reviewed 
the Royal Newfoundland and Volunteer corps, visited 
Waterford Bridge, Topsail Rood, and other points af- 
fording good views, and returned to a state dinner. In 
the evening, the city was brilliantly illuminated, and 
there was a fine display of fireworks. The next day, a 
noble NeAvfoundland dog was presented to the Prince, 
by Chief Justice Sir Francis Brady, on behalf of the 
people of the colony. The Prince accepted the dog, 
and called him Cabot, after the discoverer of the island. 
After a short visit, His Royal Highness embarked for 
the continent amidst the renewed cheers of the loyal 
and noble-hearted people of Newfoundland. 

We shall here close our historical sketch, and pre- 
sent the reader with the followino; statistics. 



A Table showing the Civil Divisions^ Population, and Repre' 
sentatives for each District. 



1857. 



Names of Districts. 



St. Johns, East 
St. Johns, AVest . 
Harbor Main, Conception Bay 
Port-de-Grave, " " 

Harbor Grace, " " 

Carbonear, " " 

Bay-de-Verds, " " 

Trinity Bay .... 

Bonavista 

Twillingate and Fogo . 
Ferryland . . . . 

Placentia and St. Mary's 
Burin . . . . . 
Fortune Bay 
Burgeo and La Poile 

Total . 



No. of 
Inhabitants. 



17,352 

13,124 
5,386 
6,489 

10,067 
5,233 
6,220 

10,736 
8,850 
9,717 
5,228 
8,334 
5,529 
3,492 
3,545 



119,304 



No. of Rep- 
resentatives. 



3 
3 
2 
1 

1 
1 
3 
3 
2 
2 
3 
2 
1 
1 
28 



POPULATION AND SCHOOLS. 



97 

119,304 



To the population of the Elective Districts . 

We must add the population (British) on the French 

shore 3,334 



Therefore, the total population of 1857 was . 122,638 

Of this population, the Roman Catholics are estimated 



at 



Protestants 

Total .... 
The Protestants are thus divided : 

Episcopalians 

Wesleyans 

Presbyterians 

Congregationalists 

Baptists 

Total . 

No. of Clergymen : — 

Eoman Catholics 
Episcopal 
Wesleyan 
Presbyterian . 
Congregational . 
Baptist .... 



55,309 
63,995 

119,304 



Total 



42,608 

20,144 

822 

344 

77 

63,995 

36 

40 

22 

3 





101 



N.B. — No Return of Religious Profession from the French Shore 



A Tabular Statement of Academical Institutions in Newfound- 
land. 



Voluntary 
aid. 



Academy, Epis'palian 
Bonavista Coll., R. C. 
Academy, Wesleyan 
Academy, Gen. Prot. 



Total. 





No. of 


No. of 


Government 


Situation. 


Profrs. 


Studts. 


aid. 


St. Johns 


2 


44 


$2,000 


" 


4 


79 


4,384 


u 


2 


09 


1,000 


u 


1 


30 


750 
8,134 




9 


222 



$21 

2,748 

500 

750 

4,019 



98 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



In the year 1857 there were two hundred and fifty- 
seven Day Schools, as shown in the following table : — 

Tabular Vieio of Protestant Day Schools in 1861. 



Denomination. 



Church of England . 
Wesley an 
Presbyterian 

OTHER SCHOOLS. 

Colonial Church Society 
Elementary Schools . 
Commercial Schools 



Total 



No. of Schools. 


Pupils. 


2 


108 


8 


593 


1 


61 


24 


2524 


108 


4968 


4 


159 


147 


8413 



$26,500 



Catholic Schools in 1861. 





No. of Schools. 


PupUs. 


Cost, 


Commercial Schools . 

Convent Schools 

Elementary . . . . 


7 
10 
93 


1360 






110 


5028 


$20,495 



Thus the total number of schools in the island, in 
1861, was 257 ; of pupils, 13,441 ; and the total cost, 
$46,995. 

The teachers' salaries vary from twenty to sixt}'' 
pounds sterling ; and are made up partly by govern- 
ment and partly by school fees. 

The government contributes one-half the cost of 
erecting school-houses. 

There are in the Province forty-one school-districts, 
twentv-five of which are under a Protestant Board of 



FISHERIES. 99 

Education and Inspection, and sixteen under the con- 
trol of a Catholic Board and a Catholic Inspection. 
The government appropriates annually £400 toward 
the training of Protestant teachers, who may 'be trained 
in either of the Protestant Academies; and c£350 for 
Cathohc teachers, who are trained in the Catholic Col- 
lege. 

THE FISHERIES. 

The fisheries of Newfoundland are known as the 
" bank-fishery," and the '' shore-fishery." 

THE BANK-FISHERY. 

This is carried on in large vessels on the Banks of 
Newfoundland, a vast submarine elevation, lying In the 
Atlantic Ocean, and between five and six hundred 
miles In length, with a breadth of about two hundred 
miles. In the year 1775, about four hundred sail of 
vessels, of from eighty to one hundred and forty tons 
burthen, were engaged In the bank-fishery, of which 
about one hundred and forty were fitted out from St. 
Johns, and the remainder from various out-harbors. 
These employed from eight to ten thousand fishermen 
and shoremen. This fishery Is now almost abandoned 
by the British, but is carried on with great vigor by the 
French and Americans, who together are said to em- 
ploy one thousand vessels, with some thirty thousand 
men. 

SHORE-FISHERY. 

This is now the fishery In Newfoundland : it is carried 
on In small craft, as skiffs, jacks, punts, and gallop- 
ers, who fish near the shore. 

In 1857, the number of boats employed was eleven 
thousand six hundred and eighty-three ; the number of 
nets and seines, two thousand three hundred and fifty- 
four ; the number of men, twenty-four thousand. 



100 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



We shall now present two tables : the first will show 
the quantity and value of codfish exported each year, 
for ten years ; the second table will show the quantity 
and value of all kinds of produce exported, each year, 
for four years. 

A Tabular Statement of tie Quantity and Value of Codfish ex- 
ported from Newfoundland each year ^ for ten years. 



Years. 


Quintals. 


Value in Dollars. 


1853 


922,718 


2,805,500 


1854 


774,118 


2,589,090 


1855 


1,107,388 


3,400,415 


1856 


1,268,334 


3,945,620 


1857 


1,392,322 


5,030,645 


1858 


1,038,089 


3,825,505 


1859 


1,105,793 


4,474,830 


1860 


1,138,544 


4,231,190 


1861 


1,021,720 


3,341,315 


1862 


1,074,289 


3,760,010 



Tabular Statement of all kinds of Produce exported from Newfound- 
land each year, for four years, with the total Value in British ster- 
ling. 



Produce. 



Codfish, dried, quintals, 
" pickled, tubs, 
Salmon, tierces, .... 
Herring, barrels, . . . 
No. of Seal Skins, . . . 

No. of Furs, 

Seal and God Oil, tuns. 
Other Oils, gallons, . . 
Total value, £, . . . . 



1836 



Years. 
1845 1858 



1861 



860,354 



1,847 

1,534 

384,321 

2,959 



41,872 
807,829 



1,000,233 

442 

3,545 

20,903 

352,702 

2,037 

8,408 

907,112 



1,058,059 

1,688 

2,726 

82,155 

507,626 

2,004 

323,241 
1,280,343 



1,021,720 

cwt. 372 

2,924 

64,377 

375,282 

3,886 

8,375 

tuns 23 

1,269,546 



BANKS. 101 

In the year 1862, there were 26 vessels built on the 
island, the total tonnage of which was 2,786 tons, and 
cost ^3,580. 

The imports for 1862 were $5,035,410 ; exports, 
$5,858,615 ; which is a balance in favor of exports of 
$823,205. Number of vessels employed, 1,386 ; ton- 
nage, 8T,030. 

The mines and minerals, just now coming into notice, 
are likely to increase the exports. 

The revenue of 1862 was $581,638 ; the expendi- 
ture, $690,290. The public debt is stated at $720,000. 

BANKS. 

There are three banks : the Union Bank circulated 
notes in 1861 to the extent of $472,520 ; the Commer- 
cial Bank, $213,628. The assets of the Savings Bank, 
in 1860, amounted to $744,504 ; and its liabilities were 
$671,792. 

It has been customary to speak of Newfoundland, 
with its commanding position, its numerous fine har- 
bors, and its salubrious climate, as a barren and inhos- 
pitable island, totally unfit for the habitation of man. 
Such misrepresentations could only have been made 
from sheer ignorance, or by interested parties, who 
sought the monopoly of the entire trade. It is now 
evident that many parts of the island are capable of a 
high state of cultivation ; and its fisheries are an inex- 
haustible source of wealth ; while its mines and its min- 
erals are likely soon to attract at least a portion of the 
European immigrants, to seek their pile upon the moun- 
tains, or in the dells of its rock-bound shores. The 
inhabitants have always been loyal, brave, kind, and 
respectful ; and, if the charge of ignorance or rudeness 
could be sustained, it was because they had been neg- 



102 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

lected, misgoverned and oppressed. A brighter day 
is dawning ; and that land will yet rise in wealth, intel- 
ligence, and Influence, equal to any of her sister Prov- 
inces in the Western hemisphere. 



END OF PART I. 



PART II. 



THE CENTENARY; 

OR, THE HISTORY OF WESLEYAN METHODISM DURING THE 
HUNDRED YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE IN NEWFOUNDLAND ; 
WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ALL THE DECEASED 
WESLEYAN MISSIONARIES AND MINISTERS WHO HAVE 
LABORED IN THAT COUNTRY. 



(103) 



CHAPTER I. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND — ENGLISH CLERGY — RISE OF METHOD- 
ISM — LAY PREACHERS — PERSECUTION — JOHN NELSON — FIRST CON- 
FERENCE. 

THIS year, 1865, is the centenary year of Methodism 
in Newfoundland. It was introduced there in 1765 : 
it is, therefore, now in the hundredth year of its exist- 
ence, and was the first mission ground ever occupied 
by the Wesleyan Church. 

The rise of Wesleyan Methodism in England, during 
the first half of the last century, was in a pre-eminent 
sense providential, and showed, in all its outlines and 
general operations, the constant presence of the Great 
Head of the Christian Church. 

The reformation from Popery had done much, both 
on the Continent and in England, to dissipate those 
dense clouds of moral darkness with which that corrupt 
system had cast all Europe in a deep gloom ; and in the 
latter country, in the eighteenth century, at its very 
commencement, it had nearly annihilated all the influ- 
ence of Romanism ; it had established a Protestant 
monarchy on the throne ; it had formed a national 
protestant church, with a most admirable scriptural 
liturgy ; it had given the Bible to the people in their 
own language ; it had required the observance of the 
Christian Sabbath bylaw ; it had recently tolerated dis- 
senters from the established church, who worshipped God 
according to the dictates of their own conscience ; and 

(105) 



106 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

while the astronomical and other discoveries of Sir Isaac 
Newton had filled the world with astonishment, philol- 
ogy, philosophy, and belles lettres were cultivated to an 
extent that caused that period to be distinguished as 
the ''Augustan age of Enghsh literature.' Giant 
minds and champions for the truth lived in those days ; 
and among them we might name Archbishop Seeker, 
Bishops Burnet, Gibson, Butler, and a little later, that 
great expositor of Scripture prophecy. Bishop Newton ; 
also Dean Prideaux, Dr. John Guyse, Dr. Isaac Watts, 
Rev. John Hurrion, Rev. Abraham Taylor, and many 
others, who faithfully preached the gospel in their sever- 
al pulpits, and fearlessly assailed the carelessness, the 
infideUty, and the licentiousness of the age. But Eng- 
land was not evano;elized : far from it. Infidel books 
were extensively circulated, and infidel principles were 
entertained by masses of the British people ; the wicked 
and blasphemous writings of Hobbes, Toland, Blount, 
Collins, Mandeville, Tindal, Morgan, Woolston, Chubb, 
and a little later appeared among the foes of Christianity, 
that keen philosopher and eloquent writer, Lord Bol- 
ingbroke ; and the moral poison these men scattered 
abroad had effected the minds of the upper classes of 
society to a great extent. Within the pale of the church, 
and acknowledged as its ministers, were Dean Swift and 
Lawrence Sterne, whose writings, so full of burlesque, 
ribaldry, and licentious humor, tended fearfully to cor- 
rupt the morals of the nation. Deadly heresy was also 
tolerated in the pulpits of the establishment. The very 
learned Dr. Samuel Clarke, rector of St. James, West- 
minster, was a decided Arian, and so was the erudite 
William Whiston ; and Bishop Hoadley is said to have 
given up all that is peculiar to Christianity, in compli- 
ment to the Deists, and to have espoused substantially 



MORAL DEPRAVITY IN ENGLAND. 107 

the Socinian heresy, while at the same time he retained 
his office and preferment. Little was heard from the 
pulpit of the cardinal doctrine of "justification by 
faith," or gospel holiness. Many of the clergy were 
ignorant of the Scriptures, and seemed to think the in- 
struction of the people in the truths of Christianity was 
not their work ; that they held their position merely as 
a living ; and that they could indulge in the wine-cup, 
in the chase, at the card-table, at the ball-room, or in 
almost any other way, providing they could go through 
their round of official duties on the Sabbath day. With 
such unscriptural teaching in the pulpits, such formal- 
ity and often immorality in the clergy, it were vain to 
look for true religious feeling, to any extent, among the 
laity ; hence the people, while they called themselves 
churchmen, and attended to all the services and cere- 
monies enjoined in the Book of Common Prayer, were 
yet grossly ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, and im- 
moral and vicious in the extreme. Men of rank and 
fashion laughed at religion, and the common people 
literally wallowed in sin. Johnson once said to Bos- 
well : " I remember when all the decent people in 
Lichfield used to get drunk every night, and were not 
thought the worse for it." ^ 

That we have not overdrawn the picture, the reader 
will admit, if he carefully peruses the following state- 
ments, made and published by different eminent bish- 
ops in the establishment, who lived in those times. 

The first evidence we shall give is from a work by 
Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Sahsbury, called " The Pas- 
toral Care," first published in the year 1692, a third 
edition of which was issued in 1713. Li the preface 

1 Boswell's Johnson, vi. p. 340. 



108 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

to this edition, Bishop Burnet gives the following de- 
scription of the clergy of his own diocese : — 

" I am now in the seventieth year of my age, and, as I cannot 
speak long in the workl in any sort, so I cannot hope for a more 
solemn occasion than this of speaking with all due freedom, both 
to the present and to the succeeding ages. Therefore I lay hold 
on it to give free vent to those sad thoughts that lie on my mind 
both day and night, and are the subject of many secret mournings. 
I dare appeal to that God, to whom the secrets of my heart are 
known, and to whom I am shortly to give an account of my min- 
istry, that I have the true interests of this church ever before my 
eyes, and that I pursue them with a sincere and fervent zeal. 

" If I am mistaken in the methods I follow, God, to whom the 
integrity of my heart is known, will not lay that to my charge. 

" I cannot look on without the deepest concern, when I see im- 
minent ruin hanging over this church, and by consequence, over the 
whole Reformation. The outward state of things is black enough, 
God knows; but that which heightens my fears rises chiefly /row 
the inward state into which ice are unhapjnly fallen. I will confine 
myself to the clergy. 

" Our Ember weeks are the burden and grief of my life. The 
much greater part of those who come to be ordained are ignorant, 
to a degree not to be apprehended by those who are not obliged 
to know it. The easiest part of knowledge is that to which they 
are the greatest strangers : I mean the plainest part of the Scrip- 
tures, which, they say in excuse for their ignorance, that their Tu- 
tors in the Universities never mention the reading of to them ; so 
that they can give no account, or at least a very imperfect one, of 
the contents even of the GospokT Those who have read some 
few books, yet never seem to have read the Scriptures. Many can- 
not give a tolerable account even of the Catecliism itself, how 
short and plain soever. They cry, and think it a sad disgrace to 
be denied orders, though the ignorance of some is such that, in a 
well-regulated state of things, they would appear not knowing 
enough to he admitted to the holy sacrament. 

" This does often tear my heart. The case is not much better 
in many who, having got into orders, come for institution, and 
cannot make it appear that they have read the Scriptures or any 
one good book since they were ordained ; so that the small meas- 
ure of knowledge upon which they got into holy orders not being 
improved, is in a way quite lost ; and they think it a great hard- 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH CLERGY. 109 

ship if they are told they must know the Scriptures and the body 
of divinity better before they can be trusted with the care of souls. 

" These things pierce one's soul, and m&ke him often cry out, 
* Oh, that I had wings hke a dove ! for then would I fly away 
and be at rest.' What are we like to grow to ? In what case 
are we to deal with any adversary, Atheist, Papist, or dissenter, 
or in any sort to promote the honor of God, and carry on the 
great concerns of the gospel, when so gross an ignorance in the 
fundamentals of religion has spread itself so much among those 
who ought to teach others, and yet need that one should teach 
them the first principles of the oracles of God. 

" Politics and party eat out among us, not only study and 
learning, but that which is the only thing that is more valuable, 
a true sense of religion, with a sincere zeal in advancing that for 
which the Son of God both lived and died, and to which those who 
are received into holy orders have vowed to dedicate their lives 
and labors. Clamors of scandal in any of the clergy are not fre- 
quent, it is true, and God be thanked for it ; but a remiss, un- 
thinking course of life, with little or no application to study, and 
the bare performing of that which, if not done, would draw cen- 
sures when complained of, without even pursuing the pastoral care 
in any suitable degree, is but too common as well as too evident." 

If any writer in our clay had given such a descrip- 
tion of the Episcopal clergy of England at any time, 
or had declared that young men were accustomed to 
make application for holy orders, who were " ignorant 
of the contents of the Gospels," and " even of the Cat- 
echism," and who appear as not '* knowing enough to 
be admitted to the holy sacrament ; " and that after 
ordination, they continued in such a state of " gross 
ignorance in the fundamentals of religion," as them- 
selves to need being taught the " first principles of the 
oracles of God ; " such statements would be considered 
as untrue and slanderous : but coming from the pen of 
the great and good Bishop Burnet, who lived at the 
time,' and wrote only what he knew, its truth cannot 
be questioned. 

10 



110 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Of the morals of the people in the British metropo- 
lis, at that time, Bishop Gibson, in his *' Pastoral Let- 
ters," published in 1728, gives the following account : — 

" They who live in these great cities (London and Westmin- 
ster), or have had frequent recourse to them, and have any con- 
cern for rehglon, must have observed, to their great grief, that 
profaneness and impiety are grown hold and open ; that a new sort 
of vice of a very horrible nature, and ahuost unknown before in 
these parts of the world, was springing up and gaining ground 
amongst us, if it had not been checked by the seasonable care of 
the civil administration; that, in some late writings, /»uWic stews 
have been openly vindicated^ and public vices recommended to the 
protection of the government^ as public benefits ; and that great 
pains have been taken to make men easy in their vices, and deliver 
them from the restraints of conscience, by undermining all reli- 
gion, and promoting atheism and infidelity." 

Bishop Butler, the learned author of the " Analogy,'* 
in the advertisement to that work, published in 1736, 
speaks of the infidelity of his time, as follows : — 

" It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many 
persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry ^ 
but that it is no^o, at length, discovered to be fictitious. And, ac- 
cordingly, they treat it as if in the present age, this were an agreed 
point among all people of discernment, and nothing remained but 
to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were 
by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures 
of the world." 

Archbishop Seeker, in 1738, wrote the following 
sentence : — 

" We cannot be mistaken, that an open and professed disregard 
to religion is become, through a variety of unliappy causes, the 
distinguishing character of the present age; that this evil is grown 
to a great height in the metropolis of the nation, is daily spread- 
ing through every part of it, and, bad in itself as any can be, 
must, of necessity, bring in all others after it. Indeed, it hath al- 
ready brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle in 
the higher part of the world, and such profiigate intemperance and 



STATE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. Ill 

fearlessness of committing crimes^ in the lower, els must, if' this tor- 
rent of impiety stop not, become absolutely fatal." 

We shall give one more quotation ; and it will be 
from the pen of an eminent dissenting minister, whose 
name is known to every one, and whose praise is in all 
the churches. The writer is Dr. Isaac Watts, 1731 : — 

" Among the papers published last year, there hath been some 
inquiry made whether there be any decay of the ' dissenting in- 
terest,' and what may be supposed to have been the occasion of 
it. So far as I have searched into that matter, I have been in- 
formed, that, whatsoever decrease may have appeared in some 
places, there have been sensible advances in others. And without 
entering into any debate about the particular reasons of its de- 
clension in any town whatever, I am well satisfied that the great 
and general reason is the decay of vital religion in the hearts and 
lives of men, and the little success which the ministrations of the 
gospel have had of late for the conversion of sinners to holiness, 
and the recovery of them from the state of corrupt nature, and 
the course of this world, to the life of God by Jesus Christ. 

"Nor is the complaint of the declension of virtue and piety 
made only by the Protestant dissenters. It is a general matter of 
mournful observation amongst all that lay llie cause of God to 
heart ; and therefore It cannot be thought amis? for every one to 
use all just and proper efforts for the recovery of dying religion in 
the world" ^ 

Such was the state of England and the English 
church, sinking into mfidellty and ruin, when God, 
in his providence and mercy, raised up the Wesleys to 
reform the nation ;*to rescue the masses from their vi- 
ciousness and moral degradation ; to confront the infi- 
dehty of the times ; and by preaching the plain doc- 
trines of the New Testament, and of the Reformation, 
be the means of diffusing spiritual life through the 
churches, both of the Establishment and of the Ortho- 

1 Preface to An Humble Attempt towards the Revival of Practical Reli- 
gion, edition, 1735. 



112 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

(lox Dissenters. Justification by faith, regeneration, 
the witness of the spirit, and gospel hohness were the 
great truths these men proclaimed. They were not 
new doctrines, though many thought they were. They 
were precisely what the apostles preached, what the 
Reformers preached, and are found in every article, in 
every homily, and on every page of the English Litur- 
gy ; yet such was the ignorance of many of the clergy 
that they closed their pulpits against those who preached 
these doctrines, denounced them as heretical, the preach- 
ers as heretics, " enemies to the church," " Papists in 
disguise," "rebels to the government," and men whom 
they might malign, ridicule, insult, and persecute at their 
pleasure. 

But the common people " heard " them gladly. They 
were first astonished at what they heard ; then won- 
dered why they had not heard the same things from 
their own ministers. They pondered these doctrines 
in their minds ; they found they were scriptural : deep 
conviction of sin followed ; and men in multitudes were 
turned " from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan to God." " In the latter end of the year 1739 
eight or ten persons came " to Mr. Wesley '' in London, 
who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and ear- 
nestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did 
two or three more the next day) that I would spend 
some time with them in prayer, and advise them how 
to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continu- 
ally hanging over their heads. That we might have 
more time for this great work, I appointed a day when 
they might all come together, which, from thencefor- 
ward, they did every week, viz., on Thursday evening. 
To these, and as many as desired to join wath them 
(for their number increased daily), I gave those advices 



LAY-PREACHING. 113 

from time to time whicli I judged most needful for them ; 
and we always concluded our meetings with prayer 
suited to their several necessities." 

This was the origin of the Wesleyan societies all over 
the world. The term church was not used for many 
years after to any association connected with Method- 
ism. They were simply societies connected with the 
Church of England, from which they possibly might 
never have been separated had it not been for the 
persecuting spirit evinced by the ministers of that 
church. 

What was called " lay-preaching," that is, preaching 
by men who had not been Episcopally ordained, was 
the means of extending Methodism in those early times. 
This was contrary to Mr. Wesley's early prejudices and 
fixed opinions ; and he at first set his face against such 
an innovation upon the office and dignity of the Chris- 
tian ministry. But the force of circumstances, with the 
wise and Christian counsel of his most Christian mother, 
overcame his prejudices, and caused him to submit. 

" The first lay-preacher was Thomas Maxfield, a young man 
who had been converted under Mr. John Wesley's preaching, at 
Bristol, in May, 1739. He became deeply pious; prayed, ex- 
horted, and expounded the Scriptures, with uncommon power. 
He was appointed to assist in the society in London, in the ab- 
sence of the Wesleys ; and there he began to preach. Complaint 
of* this was forwarded to Mr. Wesley, who hastened to London, 
with all speed, to stop this irregularity. His mother then lived in 
London. On his arrival, he said to her : ' Thomas Maxfield has 
turned preacher, I find.' She looked attentively at him, and re- 
plied : ' John, you know what my sentiments have been ; you can- 
not suspect me of favoring readily anything of this kind ; but take 
care what you do with respect to that young man ; for he is as 
surely called of God to preach as you are ! Examine what have 
been the fruits of his preaching, and hear him also yourself.' 
10 * 



114 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

* . 

He took her advice, and submitted to what he believed to be the 

order of God." ^ 

Soon after, other persons were employed in the same 
way, as Thomas Richards, Thomas Westell, and John 
Nelson, the famous Yorkshire stone-mason. 

The employment of lay-preachers was soon sounded 
throuo-h the kingdom, was a hicrh offence against high 
churchmen, and involved the Methodists almost every- 
where in persecution and danger. 

Every passing event was taken hold of that could 
in any way excite prejudice against the Methodists. 
The Pretender was raising a rebellion in the North, 
and England was threatened with an invasion from 
France and Spain. Reports the most absurd, and cal- 
umnies of all sorts, were now circulated against Mr. 
Wesley and the Methodists. It was said they were in 
collusion with the Pretender ; that John Wesley had 
been seen with the Pretender, in France ; he had been 
taken up for high-treason, and was in prison, awaiting 
his just doom ; that he was a Jesuit, an agent of Spain, 
and received large sums from that country, in order to 
raise a body of twenty thousand men to aid a Spanish 
invasion ; that he was an Anabaptist, a Quaker ; that 
he had been prosecuted for unlawfully selling gin ; and, 
to complete the whole, it was said that John Wesley 
had hanged himself, w^as dead and buried ; that the 
present man was not the genuine John Wesley, but an 
impostor. 

Outrageous as these stories were, they were believed ; 
and persecution of Methodist preachers and Methodist 
people was the consequence. Charles Wesley was 

1 Moor's Life of Wesley, vol. i. p. 507. 



PERSECUTION OF METHODISTS. 115 

actually indicted before the magistrates, In Yorkshire, 
because, In public, he had prayed that the Lord " would 
call home his banished ones." ^ 

In Staffordshire, the Methodists were assailed, not 
only In their assemblies, but in their homes and in the 
public streets. In Dorlston, women were knocked 
down, and abused in a manner, says Mr. Wesley, " too 
horrible to be related." ^ Houses were broken into, 
furniture broken, and thrown into the street ; and one 
person was denied shelter In his own father's dwelling, 
for fear the house would be torn down. 

In Wedensbury, the disorders were frightful. The 
mob assaulted all the houses of those who were called 
Methodists. They broke the windows, suffering neither 
glass, lead, or frame to remain. They entered the 
houses, and dashed In pieces tables, chairs, chests-of- 
drawers, and shop-goods. They cut up feather-beds 
and strewed the feathers about the room. 

One poor woman was confined at the time. No mat- 
ter : they pulled away her bed, and cut it in pieces. 
Wearing apparel and valuables they took away : men 
and women fled for their lives. The mob divided into 
several companies, and marched from village to village, 
within a range of four or five miles, until the whole 
region was In a state of tumult. 

These disgraceful proceedings were instigated by the 
gentlemen of the place, who drew up a paper, requiring 
persons to sign It, Importing that they would never 
again invite a Methodist preacher to their dwelling ; 
and they were assured that if they signed that paper, 
the proceedings of the mob should at once be checked ; 
otherwise, they must take what might follow. This, 

1 Life Charles Wesley, vol. i. p. 378. » Journal, 1745. 



116 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

the persecuted Methodists refused witli indignation, and 
rephed : " We have ah'eadj lost all our goods, and 
nothinor more can follow but the loss of our lives, which 
we will lose too, rather than wrong our consciences." 

At Dudley,* a lay preacher was cruelly abused, at 
the instigation of the parish minister^ and would 
probably have been murdered, had not an honest 
Quaker enabled him to escape, disguised in his broad- 
brimmed hat and plain coat.^ 

At Wedensbury, none of the magistrates were 
willing to protect the Methodists : on the contrary, one 
of these functionaries declared that their treatment was 
just, and oflPered five pounds to have them driven out 
of the' town. Another refused to hear a Methodist 
who came to take oath that his life was in danger ; and 
a third delivered a member of the society up to the mob, 
and waving his hand over his head, shouted, " Huzza, 
boys ! Well done ! Stand up for the church." 

The storm raged in Cornwall ; and in St. Ives the 
chapel was nearly destroyed. Mr. Wesley went there, 
and on arriving at the house of one of the Methodists, 
where the society was waiting for him, he was received 
" with a loud though not a bitter cry ; but they soon 
recovered, and w^e poured out our souls together in 
praises and thanksgiving." As soon as the people 
went out, they were saluted with huzzas, stones, and dirt. 
Mr. Wesley was surprised at the Christian meekness 
and patience with which these converted miners, once 
degraded and violent men themselves, now endured 
persecution " for righteousness sake." Some who had 
been the worst of the rabble had become the most ex- 
emplary sufferers. The Methodists of St. Just had 

^ Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, chap. ii. 



PERSECUTION OF METHODISTS. 117 

been the chief of the whole country for hurling, fight- 
ing, drinking, and all manner of wickedness ; but 
many of the lions had become lambs, and were con- 
tinually praising God, and calling their old companions 
in sin, to come and " magnify the Lord together." 

On a public fast day, appointed to pray for the safety 
of the nation, against the threatened invasion, Mr. 
Wesley listened to a sermon in the Church of St. Ives, 
in which the Methodists were denounced as enemies of 
the church and state, Jacobites and Papists. 

John Nelson was a man of good sense, cool courage, 
sound piety, and apt in speech. He spread. Methodism 
extensively in Yorkshire, Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Lan- 
cashire, and other counties, laboring at his trade by 
day, and preaching every night. As might be expected, 
he was severely persecuted. At Grimsby, the parish 
clergyman hired a man to beat the town drum ; and 
himself went before it, gathering together the rabble, 
giving them liquor to go with him, and " fight for the 
church ! " When they came to Nelson's lodgings, they 
gave three huzzas, and their clerical leader cried out to 
them to pull down the house ; but no one offered to 
touch it till Nelson had done preaching, when they 
broke the windows, leaving not one whole square in the 
building. The people were assailed as they went out ; 
but the mob began to fight one with the other, by 
which the preacher and his hearers were allowed 
to escape. Soon the minister gathered the rioters 
again, and gave them more drink, when they broke the 
stanchions of the windows, pulled up the paving in 
the street, threw stones into the house, denuohshed the 
furniture : and after five hours of tumult, they dis- 
persed. But the next morning the clergyman was 
again at his work, when he hired the town drummer to 



118 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

disturb Nelson while preaclilno;. The mim, after beating 
his (hiun i'uv three quarters ut* an hour around the con- 
gregation, threw away the drum, and stood listening 
with tears running down his cheeks. 

He went to Ei)W()rth, where both the clerk and tlie 
clergyman of the parish were drunkards. The former 
ran, as Nelson was preaching hi the open air, and cried 
to the congregation to make way, that he might reach 
the itinerant, and carry him before his master, who was 
at the village ale-house. Tlie people stood up for the 
eloquent stone-mason, and bade the clerk go about his 
business. Still he continued his interru})tions, until a 
sturdy man took him up and threw him upon a dung- 
hill. 

At Birstal, which was his home, he was warned that 
he should be impressed for the army if lie did not 
escape immediately. His reply was, " I cannot fear, 
for God is on my side, and his word hath added 
strength to my soul this day." He was seized the 
next day, while preaching at Adwalton, and was 
marched off to Halifax, where tlie Birstal vicar was on 
the bench as one of the commissioners, who reported 
Nelson as a ^'vagrant, without visible means of living." 
He replied, " I am as able to get my living by my 
hands as any man of my trade in England is, and yon 
know it.^^ But he was taken to Bradford, and plunged 
into a dungeon, into which flowed blood and filth from 
a slaughter-house above it, " so that it smelt," he says, 
" like a pig-stye ; but my soul," he adds, " was so filled 
with the love of God, that it was a paradise to me." 
There w^as nothing for him to sit on, and his only bed 
was a heap of decayed straw. The people handed him 
food, water, and candles through a hole in the door, 
and stood outside joining him in hymns most of the 



PERSECUTION OF METHODISTS. 119 

night. He shared their charities with a miserable 
fellow-prisoner, who might have starved had it not 
been for his kindness. 

We will here mention the heroic conduct of Nel- 
son's excellent wife. The next mornino; after his 
imprisonment in Bradford jail, she came to see him. 
She had two young children to provide for, and soon 
expected another. Addressing him through the hole 
in the door, " Fear not," she said, " the cause is 
God's for which you are here, and he will plead it him- 
self. Therefore, be not concerned about me and the 
children, for he that feeds the young ravens will be 
mindful of us. He will give you strength for your 
day ; and after we have suffered awdiile, he will perfect 
what is Jacking in our souls, and bring us where the 
wicked cease from troubling and where the weary 
are at rest." " I cannot fear," he responded ; " I 
cannot fear either man or devil, so long as I find the 
love of God as I now do." 

Nelson was compelled to go into the ranks as a sol- 
dier, and, after suffering in various ways, at the end 
of three months he was released throuo;li the influence 
of Lady Huntington.^ 

But the persecution of Methodism in no way 
retarded its progress : it w^as the work of the Lord, 
and it prospered against all opposition. Many thou- 
sands were converted from the error of their ways ; 
many societies were formed in different parts of the 
kingdom ; and many who had once been its opposers 
now became its friends, believing it to be a revival of 
primitive Christianity. *' So mightily grew the word 
of God, and prevailed." 

^ See History of Methodism, by Abel Stevens, LL.D., book ii. chap. vi. 



120 -NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS .MISSIONARIES. 

• . 

On Monday, June 25th, 1744, the first Methodist 
conference met at the Foundry, in Moorfields, London. 
This place was called the Foundry, because it had 
been used by the government for founding cannon. 
The building had been repaired, and altered into a 
place of worship, and was the first Methodist chapel in 
England. Its site was only a short distance from City 
Road Chapel, the present head-quarters of Methodism. 

The first conference consisted only of clergymen 
who had been especially ordained, and were six in 
number. Jackson says, in his life of Charles Wesley, 
vol. i. p. 387 : " No layman was present in that as- 
sembly." ^ The six clergymen were, John Wesley, 
Charles Wesley ; John Hodges, Rector of Wenro ; 
Henry Piers, Vicar of Bexley ; Samuel Taylor, Vicar 
of Quinton ; and John Meriton. 

Mr. Hodges was the Rector of Wenro, in South 
Wales, whose heart and house were always open to re- 
ceive the Wesleys, when they visited the Principality. 
Mr. Piers, Vicar of Bexley, and his wife, were both 
brouo-ht to the knowledo;e of the truth by the instru- 
mentality of Charles Wesley. Mr. Samuel Taylor, 
Vicar of Quinton, near Evesham, in Worcestershire, is 
said to have been a descendant of the celebrated 
Rowland Taylor, who was burned alive for his 
Protestantism, in the reign of Queen Mary. Of Mr. 
John Meriton little is known, only he is spoken of as 
" a clergyman from the Isle of Man." 

1 Dr. Stevens thinks this is an error, because a pamphlet has been 
found by Rev. J. Hargreaves, entitled the " Disciplinary Minutes," 
which gives information not found in regular minutes of conference. 
It, however, is a fact, that all the official records only name six clergy- 
vim as connected with the first conference. Dr. Stevens thinks that 
Maxfield, Thomas Richards, John Bennet, and John Downes, were 
also present. 



A 



FIRST CONFERENCE. 121 

This conference sat five days, during which time the 
doctrines of Methodism were thoroughly examined by 
the test of Holy Scriptures ; and a basis laid down, 
upon which its whole disciplinary superstructure has 
since been raised. 

This little band, of only six men, was the nucleus of 
the great Wesleyan Church, which since, and in the 
space of a century and a quarter, has spread, not only 
through every part of the British Empire, but on the 
Continent of America, where it wields a mighty 
influence : its missionaries are in all lands, and its ad- 
herents are numbered by millions. " What hath God 
wrought ! " 

" Saw ye not the cloud arise, 
Little as a human hand ? 
Now it spreads along the skies, 
Hangs o'er all the thirsty land." 
11 



CHAPTER II. 

SUCCESS OF METHODISM — IRELAND — LAWRENCE COUGHLAN — PHILIP 
EMBURY — METHODISM IN NEWFOUNDLAND — IN NEW YORK — 
CONFERF.NCE OF 1767 — CAPTAIN WEBB — RICHARD BOARDMAN — 
JOSEPH PILMOOR. 

THE first Methodist conference being over, three of 
the clergymen who composed it, namely, Messrs. 
Hodo-es, Piers, and Taylor, returned to their respective 
parishes, there to preach those soul-saving doctrines 
which, in conference, they had so thoroughly exam- 
ined ; while the Wesleys, now accompanied by the 
Rev. John Meriton, scattered the same heavenly seed 
broadcast, as they itinerated through every part of the 
United Kingdom. True, persecution raged fearfully ; 
many suffered in their property or in their persons ; 
and some actually died through the violence of lawless 
mobs ; yet they bore insults and injuries patiently, or 
*' took joyfully the spoiling of their goods," because 
God was honored by the preaching of his word. '' And 
the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great num- 
ber believed, and turned unto the Lord." 

The ra'pid success of Methodism, and the influence 
it has acquired, has astonished the world. The cause 
of that success is, under God, attributable to its doc- 
trines, its discipline, and the various agents it employs. 
Its doctrines are only those of the New Testament : 
they have often been assailed, but have never been dis- 
proved. Its discipline has preserved its institutions ; 
and its agents have been so diversified, as either directly 

(122) 



METHODISM IN AMEHTCA. 123 

or indirectly, to act upon all classes of society. And 
as the rays of the sun, when they come in contact with 
our atmosphere, are reflected and refracted, until the 
whole earth is illuminated ; so with the early Metho- 
dist preachers, some were directly instructed by them, 
others ihdirectly ; but, in whatever way, light was 
thereby diffused abroad until it has permeated every 
evangelical church in Christendom, and produced a 
great moral effect, unparalleled in the whole history of 
the church, since apostolical times. 

In the year 1747, three years after the forma- 
tion of the first conference, Methodism found its 
way to, and took its stand in, Ireland. Sometime 
in the month of July, Thomas Williams, one of Mr. 
Wesley's lay-preachers, came to Ireland, and preached 
in Dublin. He was a zealous man, and both a useful 
and a popular preacher. His labors were blessed, and 
a small society was soon formed. Three weeks after, 
Mr. Wesley visited Dublin, personally examined the 
society, and pronounced them " strong in faith." He 
also said the Irish were the politest people he had ever 
seen. This was the first visit of the founder of Meth- 
odism to the sister isle. The first preachers there had 
great persecution to endure, but their labors were 
attended with much success. 

About five years from this time, two young men 
were awakened, and brought to a knowledo;e of the 
truth. Neither of them was particularly distinguished 
either for learning or talents in any way ; yet were 
they to be the means, in the hand of Divine Pro«\^i- 
dence, of giving birth to Methodism in the Western 
Hemisphere. These young men were Lawrence 
Coughlan and Philip Embury. The former planted 



124 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Methodism in Newfotmdland ; and the year following 
the latter did the same in the city of New York. 

Methodism was introduced into Newfoundland in 
the year 1765, and into New York in 1766. One 
year is the only difference ; but the seniority must be 
claimed for Neivfoundland. In both cases, the agents 
were Irishmen. 

Although Methodism in New York was the second 
in order of time, yet we shall first give a synopsis of 
its early history there, to avoid interruption in our 
narrative of Newfoundland. 

In the reign of Queen Anne, a number of German 
Protestants left the Palatinate, their native home, with 
the view of settling in America, but were driven by 
stress of weather on the western coast of Ireland. Lord 
Southwell was there; and, feeling for their distress, he 
offered them land on reasonable terms, if they would 
settle on his estates in the County of Limerick. They 
accepted his offer. Twenty families settled at Court- 
matris ; twenty more at Killeheen, a mile off; fifty at 
Balligarane, two miles eastward ; and twenty at Pollar, 
four miles farther, — all in the County of Limerick. 
These Germans had no minister of their own, and no 
religious ordinances among them ; and " they soon 
became eminent for drunkenness, cursing, swearing, and 
utter contempt for all rehgion." ^ For more than 
forty years did these people live in this state. " No 
man cared for their souls." But sometime in 1749, 
Thomas Williams preached in the street in the town 
of Limerick, when he showed that " Christ crucified " 
is the only foundation of the Christian's faith, and hope 
of eternal salvation. Several of the Palatines were 

^ Wesley's works, vol. iii. p. 336. See also Methodist Magazine for 
1825, p. 597. 



PHILIP EMBURY. 125 

there. After the sermon tliey said to each otlier, 
^''T/ds is like the ^jreacldng ive used to hear in G-er- 
many.'''' The result was, they invited tlie preacher to 
visit tlieir settlements. He did so, and so likewise 
did that distinguished and holy man, Robert Swin- 
dells. The next year Mr. Wesley visited Court- 
matris, when he found the people had built a Method- 
ist chapel, and that many of them had been awakened 
and converted to God. 

Among the converts was Philip Embury, a carpen- 
ter by trade, and a young man in the twenty-second 
year of his age. Soon after his conversion, Mr. Em- 
bury began to act as a local preacher, in which capacity 
he continued to exercise his talents for several years. 
Amoncr those who emio;rated from Ireland to Kew 
York in the year 1760 was this same Philip Embury, 
who, in the land of his adoption, became the honored 
instrument of introducing Methodism into the United 
States of America, and in lavino; the foundation of that 

" I/O 

mighty organization, now known as the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. 

It must, however, be related, that Mr. Embury did 
not commence preaching immediately on his arrival in 
America ; so far from it, that he was then a backslider 
from God. Am.erica was not only a strange land to him, 
but it was then morally a dark land ; and he allowed 
six years to roil over, ere he bore his public testimony 
against sin, or undertook to point sinners to the '''' Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'' 

Some five or six years after Mr. Embury arrived, two 
other German-Irish families came, of the names of 
Heck and Dean, who seem to have retained more of 
that religious influence which they had experienced in 
Ireland than any of their emigrant brethren who had 
11 * 



126 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

preceded tliem. Some time in the year 1766, a party 
of these emigrants had so far forgot the teaching they 
liad enjoyed nnder John Wesley, Robert Swindells, 
and Thomas Williams, as to be found playing at cards ; 
and when they were so engaged, Mrs. Heck entered 
the house, and with holy indignation, she swept the 
cards into the fire, and warned her friends of their 
guilt and danger. She then went to Mr. Embury, and 
said to him, " Brother Embury, you must preach to us, 
or we shall go to hell, and God will require our blood 
at your hands." 

This reproof was effectual in arousing the latent 
zeal of this, at least partially, fallen man ; for, in a few 
days afterwards, he commenced preaching in his own 
house, to a congregation of 07ily jive perso7is. This 
was the first Methodist sermon ever preached on the 
eontiyient of America. 

The number of hearers soon increased ; some back- 
sliders were restored ; sinners were awakened and con- 
verted to God, and, before the close of the year 1766, 
a society was organized in New York, which was the 
first fruits of Methodism in the then '•'■ far West." 

Soon Embury's house was found too small, when 
a room was hired near the military barracks ; but this 
was also too small. A rigging-loft was next procured, 
which was still small for the constantly increasing con- 
gregation. The open fields were then taken, where to 
proclaim the words of life and salvation. About this 
time. Captain Webb arrived in New York. He was 
a British military officer, and had been in the campaign 
in Canada, in 1758 ; was at the conquest of Quebec 
with General Wolfe, where he received a wound in 
his arm, and lost his right eye. He returned to Eng- 
land with his regiment ; and, under the preaching of 



THE CONFERENCE IN DEBT. 127 

Mr. Wesley in Bristol, lie was converted, and shortly 
after lie began to preach. He was sent to New York 
on military duty. He at once united himself with the 
little Methodist society there, and began to preach in 
his uniform. The cause now prospered, so that a reg- 
ular Methodist chapel was designed, — a building 
sixty feet by forty, with galleries on three sides. This 
chapel was opened for divine service, by Mr. Embury, 
on the thirtieth of October, 1768. This was the first 
house of worship the Methodists ever owned in Ameri- 
ca. It was called Wesley Chapel ; but afterwards it 
was named '' The John Street Methodist Church." 

Captain Webb and his friends now applied to Mr. 
Wesley, to " send them an able and experienced preach- 
er, a man of wisdom, of sound faith, a good disciplina- 
rian, and whose heart and soul were in the work." 
This strong appeal was followed by a second letter, in 
which occurs the following sentence : " With respect to 
money for the payment of the preacher's passage over, 
if they could not procure it, we would sell our coats, 
and so procure it for them." 

At that time the conference was pressed down with 
a heavy debt, which crippled its energies, and induced 
much privation among the preachers. This debt was 
caused mostly by payments for building chapels and 
preachers' houses. In 1766, the total amount of debt 
was £ 11,383. It was at this conference, that Mr. 
Wesley said : " We shall be utterly ruined, if we go 
on thus. How may we prevent the increase of 
debt? 

" Ans. 1. Let no other building be undertaken, till 
two thirds of the money are subscribed. 

" 2. We will allow nothing to any house which 



128 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

sliiiU be begun after this day, till the debt is reduced to 
£ 3000. 

" 3. Let every preacher labor with all his might, to 
increase the collection next year.'' 

By very strenuous efforts, the two following years, 
the debt was considerably reduced ; yet, at the confer- 
ence of 1769, the remaining debt was between five and 
six thousand pounds. Notwithstanding this financial 
difficulty, the magnanimous and Christian heart of 
John Wesley was moved by the powerful appeals from 
America : he knew the men, he knew their wants, he 
knew the country ; and he determined to send them 
help. 

He therefore brought the matter before the confer- 
ence. The manner in which he did this was remark- 
able. There appears to have been no canvassing or 
discussion of the matter previously, but it came up as 
an ordinary conference question. The following is the 
simple statement in the minutes : — 

QuES. 10. What is contributed towards the debt? 

Ans. £2,458 19s. 7d. 

QuES. 11. How was this distributed ? 

Ans. As follows : [Then a list of appropriations is given, by 
which the whole amount is expended.] 

QuES. 12. What is reserved for contingent expenses ? 

Ans. Nothing. 

QuES. 13. We have a pressing call from our brethren at New 
York (who have built a preaching-house) to come over and help 
them. Who is wiUing to go ? 

It is said, that when Mr. Wesley proposed this ques- 
tion, " Who is ivilling to goV the conference was 
silent; not a man spoke. The preachers were probably 
taken by surprise ; besides which, the voyage to 
America was then a formidable affair. The following 
morning, Mr. Wesley preached at five o'clock, and 



MISSIONARIES. 129 

took for his text Isaiah i. 2 : "I have nourished and 
brought up children, and they have rebelled against 
me." After this sermon, the question was again pro- 
posed, when the conference had assembled, and it was 
then that Boardraan and Pilmoor offered their ser- 
vices ; hence the answer to the question in the 
minutes : Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor. 

QuES. 14. What can we do further, in token of our brotherly- 
love ? 

Ans. Let us now make a collection among ourselves. 

This was immediately done ; and out of it fifty pounds were 
allotted toward the payment of their debt, and about twenty 
pounds given to our brethren for their passage.^ 

This was the first missionary collection ever made in 
England ; and, taking the number of men and their 
means into account, it was perhaps never exceeded. 
For, 1st. The Methodist preachers at that conference 
were poor men ; or, if any of them had money, they 
would cheerfully give it to pay the enormous confer- 
ence debt. 2d. None were at the conference but the 
assistants, or, as they are now called, superintend- 
ents of circuits. 3d. The number of assistants that 
year was, according to the minutes, thirty-seven ; and 
supposing all the assistants in England were present at 
conference, which is not probable, the collection would 
average near eight dollars for each preacher. 

It is a remarkable feature in this transaction, that, 
while the English conference had a debt of their own 
of between five and six thousand pounds, tlley yet sent 
fifty pounds to pay the debt of their brethren in New 
York. 

Forty dollars to each of these missionaries was all that 
could be paid : a small amount, indeed, for an outfit 

1 Minutes, 1769. 



130 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and a passage to New York. Yet with tliis small 
sum did these intrepid servants of the cross leave their 
native shore to preach the gospel of Christ in that 
distant land. Soon after the close of conference, the 
Brothers Boardman and Pilmoor embarked for New 
York. They left on the 22d of August, and, after a 
tedious passage of nine weeks, landed at Gloucester 
Point, New Jersey, about six miles below Philadel- 
phia, on the 24th of October ; from whence they soon 
reached their place of destination, and immediately 
entered upon their missionary work. 

On the 31st of October, one week after their arrival, 
Joseph Pilmoor wrote to Mr. Wesley, from which 
letter we make the following extract : — 

"Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 1769. 

" Rev. Sir, — By the blessing of God, we are safe arrived here, 
aff.er a tedious passage of nine weeks. 

" We were not a little surprised to find Capt. Webb in town, 
and a society of about one hundred members, who desire to be in 
close communion with you. This is the Lord's doing, and it is 
marvellous in our eyes." 

Two years these missionaries labored ; preaching 
alternately in New York and Pliiladelphia, when their 
hearts were cheered by the arrival of two more mis- 
sionaries sent over by Mr. Wesley. These were Fran- 
cis Ashbury, and Richard Wright. The Methodist 
itinerancy was now commenced in America. Mr. Pil- 
moor was appointed to travel south ; and Mr. Board- 
man formed his circuit eastward. He introduced Meth- 
odism into the state of Massachusetts, and proceeded 
as far as the city of Boston, where he remained for a 
short time, preached with success, and formed a small 
society ; when he returned to New York. 

Such was the origin of Methodism in America, which, 



RICHATID BOAUDMAN. 131 

notwithstanding the war of independence that soon 
followed, struck deep into the American heart, so as to 
influence its inhabitants to form the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, — a body of Christians which has spread 
itself in every part of the United States, which num- 
bers its ministers by thousands, its members by hundreds 
of thousands, and its adherents by millions. It has its 
colleges and its halls of literature in every State ; it 
has its several book-rooms, from whence issue its num- 
berless publications to instruct the people in religion 
and general knowledge, as well as to confront the dan- 
gerous sentiments sent forth to the world b}^ a licentious 
press ; it has its divines in its pulpits, its judges on the 
bench, and its statesmen in its senate. Moreover, it-has 
become, like its parent, a great missionary church. It 
has its missions in almost every part of the earth, 
speaking in many tongues the wonderful works of 
God. It takes an important and very prominent part 
in the aflFairs of the Bible Society, in the circulation of 
tracts, in the temperance movement, and in every 
other Christian, benevolent, and philanthropic object. 
In fine, it seems one of the great organizations which 
our heavenly Father will employ for the illumination 
of the darkened minds of men, and for brincjino; the 
nations of the earth to knowledge and experience of 
evano-elical truth. 

Richard Boardman labored in xAmerica five years. 
He returned to Europe in the beginning of the year 
1774, and was appointed to the Londonderry Circuit. 
He labored in different circuits in England and Ire- 
land for eight years, and was suddenly called to his 
reward on the 29th of September, 1782. He died in 
Cork of an apoplectic fit. His last sermon was from 
Job xiii. 15 : '' Though he slay me, yet will I trust 



132 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

in him." It was preached the evening before his death. 
He was said to have been a good preacher, and a man 
of great simplicity and sincerity of character. In the 
minutes of 1783, Mr. Wesley says of him : " He was 
a pious, good-natured, sensible man, greatly beloved of 
all who knew him." 

Joseph Pilmoor was admitted on trial as a Metho- 
dist preacher at the conference of 1765. In his south- 
ern tour, as an American missionary, he preached in 
different parts of Maryland, Virginia, North and 
South Carolina, and Georgia as far as Savannah ; in 
which extensive circuit he spent four years, and re- 
turned with Richard Boardman to England. Thus 
the two first missionaries sent out by Mr. Wesley both 
went on their mission and returned in company, — a cir- 
cumstance that has rarely, if it has ever, happened 
since. Mr. Pilmoor continued, for a few years, to 
travel and labor in connection with Mr. Wesley, as a 
Methodist preacher. But he afterwards returned to 
America, took orders in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, and spent the remainder of his life in the cities 
of New York and Philadelphia, as an acceptable and 
efficient minister of that church. He lived to a good 
old age, and, it is believed, was beloved and respected 
by the people to whom he ministered to the end of his 
life ; and was instrumental in the. conversion and sal- 
vation of many. The truly evangelical spirit pro- 
duced through his instrumentality in the congregation 
over which he presided, and a correspondent attention 
to some of the peculiar means of grace which he intro- 
duced among them, continued to manifest themselves 
for a number of years after his death. ^ 

1 Wesley's Missionaries to America, p. 28. 



AMERICAN METHODISM. 133 

It would not be in accordance with our plan to ex- 
tend our remarks on American Methodism. Suffice it 
to say, that we rejoice in its great prosperity. May it 
prosper yet more and more ! Whatever difference na- 
tional usages or peculiar localities may have made in 
the administration of Methodist discipline, Methodist 
doctrine is universally the same. The proper essential 
divinity of the Redeemer, the atonement of his pre- 
cious blood, the universality of his salvation, justification 
by faith, the witness of the spirit, entire sanctification, 
with the everlastincr beatification of the righteous, and 
the equally eternal punishment of the finally impenitent, 
are constantly heard from every Methodist pulpit upon 
earth. It is by the faithful preaching of these great 
truths that such multitudes have been " turned to the 
Lord ; " and if these same doctrines continue to be 
preached with faithfulness, with scriptural simplicity, 
and Christian zeal, they will continue to be blessed, and 
be the means of salvation of myriads of the present 
and of unborn generations. 



12 



, CHAPTER III. 

RISE OF METHODISM IN NEWFOUNDLAND — LAWRENCE COUGHLAN — 
RISE OF METHODISM IN JERSEY AND FRANCE — JOHN STRETTON — 
ARTHUR THOMEY. 

METHODISM commenced in Newfoundland in the 
year 1765, under the ministration of the Rev. 
Lawrence Coughlan, who was connected with The 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts. 

This society was formed in the reign of King Wil- 
liam in., and incorporated on the 16th of June, 1701. 
The design of its founders was to supply the British 
Colonies '' with Episcopal ministers, catechists, and 
school-masters." ^ This society, from its commence- 
ment, was " High Church ; " yet it numbers among its 
originators and promoters the honored and pious Bish- 
ops Burnet, Beveridge, and Tennison. It opened a 
school in New York in 1704 ; and, the year following, it 
appointed a missionary to Newfoundland, wdiose parish, 
it is said, was the '^ whole island." We are not in pos- 
session of the name of this missionary, or any notation 
of his labors, or of the labors of his successors, if he 
had any, before the arrival of Mr. Coughlan./ 

Mr. Coughlan was an Irishman, and, like Philip Em- 
bury, was among the first fruits of Methodism in his 
native isle. After his conversion, he was called to the 
work of the ministry, and labored ten years as a trav- 

1 Propagation of Christianity by Brown, vol. ii. p. 657. 
(134) 



LETTER FROM MR. COUGHLAN. 135 

elling preacher in connection with Mr. Wesley. Tt is 
no argument against this to say, the name Lawrence 
Coughlan is not found in the Minutes of Conference, 
for there is a chasm in our early minutes of sixteen 
years. " The doctrines and principal parts of the dis- 
cipline of the Methodists being agreed upon, Mr. AVes- 
ley, it appears, discontinued publishing the minutes an- 
nually from 1749 till 1765 ; at least, if any were pub- 
lished, we cannot find that a single copy of them is ex- 
tant." ^ It was during ten of those years that Mr. 
Coughlan was a Methodist preacher, and therefore his 
name could not appear. Mr. Myles, in his " chronology," 
expressly says : " From 1755 to 1765, Mr. Lawrence 
Coughlan travelled in the connection, and then sepa- 
rated from Mr. Wesley. ^ 

We shall here insert two letters from Mr. Couo-hlan 
to Mr. Wesley, while he was a travelling preacher, in 
both of which we see the hio;h state of his rehVious ex- 
perience the second, in particular, shows that at the 
time of writing it he lived in the enjoyment of perfect 
love. 

FROM MR. COUGHLAN TO REV. MR. WESLEY. 

"January 26, 1762. 
" Rev. Sir, — I bless God, I do hold fast whereunto I have at- 
tained. Christ is all and in all to my soul. In all his works my 
God I see, the object of my love. Two or three years ago, you 
wrote the following words with a diamond pencil on a window in 
Whitehaven : ' God is here.' Those words have often since been 
a great blessing to my soul. I am often so filled with gratitude 
that I can let silence speak his praise. Sometimes it is drawn out 
in sweet holy mourning for those who are as sheep without a shep- 
herd. At other times, God shows me what a poor, helpless crea- 
ture I am. And the sense of this always abides with me, so that I 
am often amazed at my own ignorance ; and whatever good I feel 

1 Minutes of Conrerence, vol. i. p. 46. « See Myles, p. 170. 



136 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

or do, I can truly say, it is the Lord. I now hear a voice say, in 
a few years thou wilt turn out worse than ever. But, blessed be 
God, I hear and follow his voice : therefore I take no thought for 
the morrow. This day is put into my hands, and I have only to 
make the best of it. I have need to watch against my own will. 
But is there not what we may call an innocent will? For in- 
stance, I will to be in London, from this motive only, that I may 
hear more of the praises of God. So I choose or refuse this or 
that kind of food, that I may be more fit to serve God. But I am 
not uneasy about it. If I were, I apprehend it would be a sinful 
will. No : I am entirely resigned, knowing God will cause all 
things to work together for good. 

" I am, Reverend Sir, yours, 

" Lawrence Coughlan." 



« April 12, 1762. 

" Rev. Sir, — I staid two nights at Chester after you : and in- 
deed it was a time of love. In the meeting of the bands, several 
of our friends spoke. Old Mr. Pritchard was the first. He said : 
' For some time I have been longing for a clean heart, yet I 
thousrht God would not give it to so vile a sinner. And the first 
night Mr. W. preached, I felt something across my heart, like an 
iron bar, cold and hard. But hearing Mr. W. insist on the word 
now, I said. Lord, here I am, a poor sinner. I believe thou canst 
save me now, and give me a clean heart. In that moment Jesus 
said to my soul, / will : be thou clean. Immediately that bar was 
broken, and all my soul was filled with love ; nor could I doubt 
but Jesus had made me clean, through the word which he had 
spoken to my soul.' And three more were enabled, before we 
parted, to declare the same. 

" I find Christ to be exceeding precious to my soul, and it is my 
one desire to do his will. My soul is like a watered garden ; my 
life is hid with Christ in God ; and I believe, when Christ, who is 
my life, shall appear, I shall appear with him in glory. 
" I am. Reverend Sir, yours truly, 

"Lawrence Coughlan." 

Mr. Thomas Marriott, in an article entitled " Meth- 



MR. COUGHLAN, 137 

odism in Former Days," which is inserted in the Wes- 
leyan Methodist Magazine for 1851, page 869, says: 
'' In 1768 he (Mr. Coughlan) was ordained, and sent 
lo Newfoundland by the Society for the Propagation of 
the GospeL" As far as the year is concerned, this was 
a mistake ; for a letter is given in another page, written 
by Mr. Coughlan in 1772, in which he says he had 
been seven years a missionary. This will make the 
year 1765 the time when he went to Newfoundland. 

The destitute state of the settlers in Newfoundland 
was made known to Mr. Wesley ; but no missionary 
society then existed, and he had no funds at his dis- 
posal. Yet there was a man in his connection, whom 
lie considered as every way fit to become the evangelist 
of that country. That man was Lawrence Coughlan. 
He therefore applied to the Bishop of London to ordain 
Mr. Coughlan, and send him to Newfoundland ; with 
which request his lordship thought proper to comply, 
and sometime during the summer of 1765, Mr. Cough- 
lan accordingly came out as a missionary to Harbor 
Grace, in Conception Bay. 

Although now a clergyman under the auspices of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts, he was still a Methodist preacher, both in doc- 
trine and discipline ; and to his evangelical labors 
Methodism owes its origin in Newfoundland. The peo- 
ple were in a fearful state. True, there was then a 
governor, in the person of Captain Palliser, R. N., and 
magistrates had been appointed in different places ; yet 
law was little known in the out-harbors, except as ad- 
ministered by the fishing admirals, which infamous 
system had not then entirely passed away. The mer- 
chants ruled the people at their pleasure : not a school 
was known in the island, nor was a single temple raised 

12* 



138 NEAVFOUNDLAND ANT) ITS MISSIONARIES. 

there to the worshi}) of Almiohty God. Men wlio had 
come from England had never seen a minister since 
tliey left their native shore ; and those who had been 
born on the island had never seen one in their lives. 
The Sabbath was unknown ; there was none to cele- 
brate marriao;e, and the marriao!;e vow was little re- 
garded. Opj)ression, violence, swearing, debauchery, 
profanity, Hcentiousness, and every crime that can de- 
grade human nature, sink civilized man to a sa\;age, or 
even reduce him below the brute, was practised with- 
out a check ; in a word, the people were demoralized to 
an extent that could scarcely have been exceeded by 
the thunder-smitten inhabitants of Sodom's plain. 
Surely there was no place that stood more in need of 
a missionary than did Newfoundland ; and few men 
were better adapted for that work than the man now 
sent. 

In this far distant land, without a Christian friend, 
and surrounded by every vice, did this faithful servant 
of God bear his testimony against sin, and proclaim, 
" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sin of the world." 

His style of preaching was plain and simple, yet 
faithful, affectionate, and kind. Forty-four years ago, 
when the writer was laborino^ on the Island Cove and 
Perlican circuit, he knew a few aged persons who had 
sat under the ministry of Mr. Coughlan, and who 
knew him well. Particularly, would he mention a 
venerable Christian woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Lock, of 
Lower Island Cove, then in the seventy-fifth year of 
her age. She always mentioned the name of Mr. 
Coughlan with respect. She would tell of his faithful 
preaching, and of its effect upon the hearers. " Yon 
cannot think," she would say, " what a state New 



FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY. 139 

foundland Avas in, wlien that man of God came among 
us. Imagine any sin you will, and you cannot think 
of anything too bad. He would sometimes describe 
the sins of the land in language that polite people 
would seem to be shocked at ; yet they knew he was 
speaking only the truth. One expression he would 
use, when earnestly enforcing the command of God, — 
' Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, 
and shew my people their transgressions, and the house 
of Jacob their sins,' — was, ' You fishermen, you New- 
foundland fishermen,' he would say with great empha- 
sis, ' I tell you, if you repent not, your sins will sink 
you into hell.' " 

This w^as a kind of preaching not one of his congre- 
gation had ever heard before. They were astonished. 
Some lauo-hed at it ; others were diso-usted to think that 
the parson should say such strong things, and interfere 
with their pleasures ; but some were awakened and 
converted. These persons were at once united in class. 
This was the first Methodist society on the west of the 
Atlantic, and it was formed before the close of the year 
1765. 

The society increased, and the class was divided ; 
when the married men and the married women met 
apart, and the Methodist discipline was introduced 
among them. Our missionary now became a faithfnl 
pastor, visiting the people from house to house, and ex- 
pounding the word of God. 

He kept up a correspondence with Mr. Wesley, and 
received consolation and help from his replies. From 
a letter, written by Mr. Wesley to Mr. Coughlan while 
in Newfoundland, we make the following extract : — 

" Dear Lawrence, — By a various train of providences, you 



140 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS IVHSSIONARIES. 

have been led to the very place where God intended you should be ; 
and you have reason to praise him that he has not suffered your la- 
bor there to be in vain. In a short time, how little will it signify 
whethei' we had lived in the summer islands or beneath ' the rage 
of Aretos and eternal frost ! ' 

" How soon will this dream of life be at an end ! And when we 
are once landed in eternity, it will be all one whether we spent our 
time on earth in a palace, or had not where to lay our head." 

Persecution soon began. The English settlers, or 
their fathers, had mostly come from the neighborhood 
of Poole, or other parts of Dorsetshire, where the 
Methodists were then but little known, and were all 
churchmen ; and now in the land of their sojourn, as 
they had obtained a minister, they expected he would 
be like the ministers they had known in England, — read 
prayers to tliem, and preach on Sunday, and, if he did 
not join with them, he would at least let them alone in 
their " innocent amusements." What rio^ht had a 
church minister, in a distant dependency, to introduce 
heresy and schism into the church, or in any way con- 
nect himself with the hated John Wesley, who had 
been refused several pulpits for preaching salvation by 
faith, and who, by his preaching, had turned the " world 
upside down." 

He was opposed and insulted by some of his parish- 
oners, but he disregarded it ; then he was prosecuted in 
the chief court of the island, but his enemies were un- 
successful ; next he was summoned to appear before 
the Governor, but His Excellency declared in his fa- 
vor, and made him a justice of the peace. Foiled in 
all their attempts thus far, they thought of another 
plan, which, if successful, would forever silence his 
warning voice against their sins. This plan was to 
poison him ; and they actually engaged a physician to 



MR. COUGHLAN TO MR. WESSLEY. 141 

poison any medicine he might administer to him ; but, 
before any opportunity offered for carrying that mur- 
derous design into effect, the physician was converted 
to God, and revealed the plot. Lastly, they sent abu- 
sive and slanderous letters to England, to injure him 
with his friends at home. But all was in vain, for 
God was with him ; his enemies were reduced to si- 
lence ; the work prospered ; and, when he left the isl- 
and after seven years' labor, there were two hundred 
communicants, all awakened and brought to a knowl- 
edge of the truth through his instrumentality. 

The ministrations of Mr. Coughlan were mostly con- 
fined to Harbor Grace, or within the radius of a few 
miles, yet the benefit was felt all down the north shore. 
The character of his labors while on the Newfoundland 
mission, as well as his views and success, will be best 
understood by a perusal of the following letter, written 
to Mr. Wesley a few months before he left the island, 
and published in the Arminian Magazine for Septem- 
ber, 1785, page 490. 

FROM REV. L. COUGHLAN TO REV. JOHN WESLEY. 
" Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, Nov. 4, 1772. 

" Rev. Sir, — I bless God, my poor labors in this laud have been 
attended with some little success: some precious souls are gone 
to glory, and a few more are walking in the fear of the Lord, and 
in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. 

" I am now in the seventh year of my servitude as a missionary, 
at the end of which I hope to return to England. Could I travel 
up and down in this land, so as to be useful any longer, I would 
gladly stay ; but, as I cannot, except by water, in small boats, I 
am not able to stand it. 

" I am, and do confess myself, a Methodist. The name I love, and 
hope I ever shall. The plan which you first taught me, I have 
followed as. to doctrine and discipline. Our married men meet 
apart once a week ; and the married women do the same. This 



142 ' NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

has given great offence, so that repeated complaints have been 
made to the governor. But truth is mighty, and will prevail. 

" In winter, I go from house to house, and expound some part of 
God's word. This has also given great offence ; ' but God is above 
men, devils, and sin.' The society,^ I make no doubt, have many 
complaints against me ; but in this I shall commit all to God, for I 
am conscious to myself that what I do is for the glory of God, and 
the good of souls. We have the sacrament once a month, and 
have about two hundred communicants. This is more than all the 
other missionaries in the land have ; nor do I know of any who 
attend our sacrament, who have not the fear of God, and some 
are happy in his love. There are some also whose mouths God 
hath opened to give a word of exhortation. I hope he will raise 
up more. 

" About this time twelve months I hope to be on my passage to 
England. If I come by the way of Ireland, I should hke to see 
my old friends there. I shall be glad to know if it will be agreea- 
ble to you for me to speak in your societies. I beg leave to ask 
you one thing more. Having served the society seven years, as 
their missionary, upon my return to England, with a strong testi- 
monial from my parish, is the society obliged to find me a living ? 
And if I could get a place in the church, would you advise me to 
accept of it ? If I know my own heart, I would be where I can 
be most useful. To be shut up in a litde parish-church, and to 
conform in every little thing for sixty or a hundred pounds a year, 
I would not ; no not even for a thousand. My talents, you very 
well know, sir, are but small ; so that to be shut up here any long- 
er will not do. I am sure that it is high time that I should be re- 
moved. Who God will provide for this people, I know not. But 
he opens, and none can shut. I have informed good Lady Hun- 
tingdon of my coming next year. Her plan is somewhat agreea- 
ble to me ; that is, in going from one place to another. Yet there 
is one thing wanting, viz., discipline ; which I look upon, under 
God, has been the preserving of my society. My preaching in 
this land would do but little good, were it not for our little meet- 
ings. A line from you next spring will be very acceptable to, Rev. 
and dear sir, Your dutiful son in the gospel, 

" L. COUGHLAN." 

1 The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. 



METHODISM AMONG THE FRENCH. 143 

Mr. Coughlan returned to England the next spring, 
after which we have but httle information respecting 
him. It would seem, however, that in some way he 
wandered from God, and brought guilt upon his con- 
science ; yet it is satisfactory to know that he again 
found the favor and nijrcy of God. In a letter written 
to Mr. Stretton, of Harbor Grace, dated Feb. 25, 1785, 
which the w^riter saw in the hand-writing of Mr. Wesley, 
and which was afterwards published in the Wesleyan 
Methodist Magazine for 182-4, p. 307, occurs the follow- 
ino; sentence : — 

" The last time I saw Mr. Coughlan, he was ill in body, but in 
a blessed state of mhid. He was utterly broken in pieces, full of 
tears and contrition for his past unfaithfulness. Not long -after I 
went out of town, God removed him to a better place." 

Little did Mr. Coughlan think, when he expressed 
so much concern for his " two hundred communicants " 
whom he was about to leave in Harbor Grace, that, 
beside their conversion, he had also kindled a fire in 
the land that should never be extinguished ; that 
a large Wesleyan community should arise therein, as 
the result of the seed which he had sown ; that the 
little church which he had planted should be cared for, 
watched over, and edified ; that, in after years, its mem- 
bers should be counted by thousands ; that its influence 
should be felt in the government, and its representatives 
should sit in the councils of the country ; and that, by 
the preaching of his successors, multitudes should be 
" turned unto the Lord," and be saved forever. 

We here pause in our narrative, to make a remark 
upon the introduction of Methodism into the Norman 
Islands and into France, which can be traced back to 
a relicvious awakenino; first felt in Harbor Grace. The 
facts are these : — 



144 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Pierre Le Sueur, a native of Jersey, and several 
other persons from the same island, were engaged 
in trade in Newfoundland, while Mr. Coughlan was 
exercising his ministry there. Some of these persons, 
and among them Le Sueur himself, attended the 
ministry of Mr. Coughlan. He became seriously im- 
pressed, and returned to Jersey with an awakened 
conscience, and told his friends and neio-hbors the 
blessed eifects that had been produced upon his mind, 
by the faithful exhortations of the Newfoundland 
preacher. The neighbors of Mr. Le Sueur thought him 
mad ; his wife also opposed his views ; and, without 
counsel or sympathy from any one, for some time he 
felt the guilt of his sins upon him, without a friend to 
direct him to the cross of the Redeemer. At length, a 
man named John Fenton returned from Newfoundland, 
and gave him the guidance he needed ; and Le Sueur, 
after weeping and searching the Scriptures through 
whole nights, received the peace of God while prostrate 
in secret prayer. His wife, convinced by his example, 
began to pray, and, after great mental suffering, re- 
ceived, while upon her knees by his side, the consolation 
which he had obtained. The conversion of Le Sueur 
and his wife soon produced no little excitement ; and in 
about a week twelve persons were awakened, and joined 
in their devotions, while others violently discussed and 
opposed their supposed fanaticism. This occurred in 
1775, soon after which Le Sueur became a local 
preacher, and his friend, John Fenton, gave exhor- 
tations, and prayed with the people.^ 

1 See memoir of Mrs. Elizabeth Arrive, of Guernsey; Methodist 
Magazine, 1820, p. 239. Also, History of Methodism, by Abel 
Stevens, LL. D., vol. ii. p. 329. 



MR. JOHN STRETTON. 145 

The little Methodist Church in Jersey was kept to- 
gether by M. Le Sueur for several years. 

The first conference appointment to Jersey was in 
1786, when those two distinguished men, Robert Carr 
Brackenbury and Adam Clarke, were sent to that then 
mission station. 

Mr. Brackenbury was a gentleman of fortune, but 
became a Methodist preacher ; and the fame of Dr. 
Adam Clarke has gone through the world. 

By the labors of M. Le Sueur, as a local preacher, 
a person by the name of Peter Arrive, from the Island 
of Guernsey, was brought to a knowledge of the truth ; 
at whose instance, Mr. Brackenbury went to that island, 
and was instrumental in the conversion of an excellent 
young man named John De Queteville, who entered the 
ministry in 1786, and labored more than fifty years. 

M. De Queteville carried Methodism into France in 
the year 1790 ; and although it had everything to con- 
tend with during the horrors of the French revolution, 
and the war that ensued, yet it still survived, and, 
after the peace, it was resuscitated, and continued to 
prosper, so that, in the year 1852, French Methodism 
was organized into a separate conference. " In the 
morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not 
thy hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, 
either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike 
good." 

Two years before Mr. Coughlan returned to England, 
his heart was cheered by the arrival of Mr. John Stret- 
ton, a local preacher from Limerick, who at first settled 
in Carbonear. With the relict of this gentleman, the 
writer was very well acquainted ; and although, at the 
time, she was upwards of seventy years of age, yet she 
was in the full strength of her intellect, a woman of in 

13 



146 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

telligence, a great reader, and for half a century had 
lived in the enjoyment of perfect love. Mr. Stretton 
was a respectable merchant ; had often, with his ex- 
cellent wife, sat under the ministry of the Rev. John 
"Wesley. He was a truly pious man, and for many years 
exercised his talents as a local preacher, with great ac- 
ceptance to the people, both in Ireland and in New- 
foundland. He frequently corresponded with Mr. 
Wesley. 

Carbon ear is four miles from Harbor Grace ; and, at 
the time of which we are writing, there was no road 
between these harbors, so that it was only when the 
ground was frozen that the Harbor-Grace missionary 
could visit Carbonear and the coves down the bay. 
Of these places, Mr. Stretton writes, Oct. 29th, 1770 : — 

" Religion is scarce to be found in this country ; a few profes- 
sors are scattered through the different bays, that were awakened 
by the labors of Mr. Coughlan, who still keeps up meetings among 
them in the winter season, — the only time they have to spare." 

Among those who had been brought to God by the 
ministry of Mr. Coughlan, was Mr. Arthur Thomey, 
a respectable Irish merchant, of Harbor Grace, who 
became a local preacher. The relict of this gentleman 
was also known to the writer ; but only at the time 
when she was imbecile from age. She had been a 
mother in Israel. 

Mr. Stretton having removed from Carbonear to 
Harbor Grace, in 1771, he, with Mr. Thomey, took 
charge of the society when Mr. Coughlan left. The 
magistrates, who had been the enemies of Mr. Cough- 
lan, thought to neutralize the labors of the brethren 
Stretton and Thomey, by opening the church on Sab- 
bath, and one of themselves reading the church 
prayers. Of this matter, Mr. Stretton writes : — 



MESSRS. STRETTON AND THOMEY. 147 

" After Mr. Coufjhlan's sailing for Europe, the justices took 
upon them to read prayers in the church, and labored with all 
their might to introduce the dullest formality in the room of the 
pure gospel which he had preached. They partly succeeded : 
those who had received the truth under him had been wont to 
meet as a class on Sabbath evenings; but now their worships 
would not suffer it. Mr. Arthur Thomey and I, being disquieted 
with this mode of action on the part of the justices, resolved to 
oppose the torrent of iniquity. We gathered a few together who 
loved the Lord Jesus, and found among them a poor fisherman, 
who was not ashamed of his heavenly Master, but boldly stood 
up, and spoke in his name. Mr. Thomey also exhorts, and is en- 
dowed with both gifts and grace. We drew up rules as like Mr. 
Wesley's as we could, consistently with local circumstances. Our 
number is about thirty, who, I believe, are sincere in heart." 

For many years these faithful men labored in the 
cause of their Master. They preached three times a 
week, in private houses, during winter: in summer, 
the business of fishing prevented them from having any 
meetings except on Sabbath. They met the classes, 
they visited the sick, they prayed with and expounded 
the Scriptures from house to house ; they travelled 
the whole length of Conception Bay on foot, from Ho- 
lyrood to Bay de Verd, preaching in every harbor and 
cove, wherever human beings were found, many of 
whom had never heard a sermon preached, a chapter 
read, or a prayer offered up to God ; and, not satisfied 
wqth a sixty-mile circuit in their own bay, they ex- 
tended their circuit, by crossing the dreary country, 
sixteen or twenty miles, over to Heart's Content, in 
Trinity Bay. Of his visit to this place Mr. Stretton 
says : " My labors seemed in vain ; the people there 
being scarcely removed from savages. Yet I have 
since felt as if God would bless the seed sown." 

These brethren travelled in company to St. Johns, 
where, to their joy, they found a few" pious men, who 



148 >'EWFOUXDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

were Congregationalists, and only eight in number ; 
" yet have they built a neat meeting-house," and Mr. 
Stretton adds : " Tliey are Calvinists, but have ' the 
genuine mark of love,' and, wherever tliat is found, 
we jovfully give the right hand of fellowship." 

" Let names and sects and parties fall, 
And Jesus Christ be all in all." 

These eight poor men laid the foundation of the Con- 
crreojational church in St. Johns, — a bodv of Chris- 
tians, who, in after years, numbered among its mem- 
bers, some of the most intelligent, the most respectable, 
and the most influential in the city. 

For about thirteen years did Messrs. Stretton and 
Thomey labor together, when Mr. Thomey, having to 
go to Portugal on business, landed at Oporto, retired 
to his lodcrinors, and was found dead in the mornino-.i 

jNIr. Stretton survived his fi'iend several years. He 
built a Methodist chapel at his own expense, and gave 
it to the connection ; and he lived to see the object of 
his prayers and his labors, as well as the great deside- 
ratum of his heart, which was, that Newfoundland 
should be permanently occupied as a mission-station, and 
appear regularly on the minutes of the conference. 
After Mr. Coughlan, no man in Newfoundland was 
ever more useful among, or more beloved by, the Meth- 
odist society, or more respected by the general public, 
than was John Stretton, of Harbor Grace. 

1 Weslejan Methodist Magazine, 1S52, p. S7J. 



CHAPTER IV. 

METHODISM IN OLD PERLICAN — JOHN HOSKIXS ARRIVES — WRITES TO 
MR. WESLEY — PREACHES — PERSECUTION IN TRINITY — MR. STRET- 
TON WRITES TO MR. WESLEY, REQUESTING A PREACHER — HIS REPLY 
— ARRIVAL OF JOHN MCGEARY — EARLY METHODIST PREACHERS — 
JOHN WESLEY — CHARLES WESLEY — JOHN FLETCHER — 3IINUTES OF 
1770 — EXPULSION OF SIX OXFORD STUDENTS — REV. WALTER SHIR- 
LEY'S CIRCULAR — CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY — JOSEPH BENSON — 
ROBERT SWINDELLS — THOMAS WALSH — THOMAS OLIVERS — SAM- 
UEL BRADBURN — DR. COKE. 

OLD PERLICAN is on the south shore of Trinity 
Bay, and about twenty-four miles from Trinity 
Harbor. It had been settled mostly by Englishmen, 
from rural districts, but few of whom could read. They 
were poor men, and had left their native land to better 
their circumstances, in collecting wealth by the fishery 
on the wild but far-fomed coasts of Newfoundland. 
Only a few of them realized the object for which they 
crossed the ocean. Their circumstances were not much 
bettered. They indeed obtained a Hving, but for that 
they toiled incessantly, both night and day, for six 
months of the year, and then, after an unsuccessful 
voyage, w^ould often, during the winter, suffer severely 
from the pinching hand of poverty. In both a mental 
and a moral sense their case w^as wretched. Having 
no books, their children were brought up in ignorance ; 
being situated many miles from any mercantile estab- 
lishment, their families could not profit by mixing with 
better informed people ; they had no place of pubhc 
worship, and the name of God was not heard among 

16* (149; 



150 NEWFOINDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

them, except in an oath : but drunkenness and profligacy 
of every form was there ; and society in that place was 
fast vercrincr to a state of downrio;ht savao;eism. They 
called themselves churchmen, because their forefathers 
had attended the Episcopal Church in England ; and, 
however depraved the parents had been, the children 
made it their boast : "I am of the religion of my 
father." 

Nothing could better the condition of these people 
but the gospel. This, and this alone, could raise them 
from their fallen state ; and, in the providence of God, 
this gospel, which is 

" A sovereign balm for every wound,'* 
was carried to them by John Hoskins, a private indi- 
vidual, a poor man, and who, like the people among 
whom he labored, had left the shores of Britain to im- 
prove his temporal circumstances. He purposed to go 
to New England, and keep a school for a liveKhood, but 
called on his way at Newfoundland, where he remained, 
became the instrument in the conversion of many, 
and was the founder of Methodism in Old Perhcan and 
Island Cove. 

John Hoskins was brought to God when about four- 
teen years of age, and joined the Methodist society in the 
city of Bristol, England, in the year 1746, which was 
only two years after the meeting of the first Methodist 
Conference. He was personally acquainted with Mr. 
Wesley and the first Methodist preachers ; he had seen 
them mobbed and persecuted ; but he believed Methodism 
was of God. It had saved him, and therefore he loved 
it ; and when, in the order of Divine Providence, he was 
led to seek a home in the New World, he brought his 
Methodism with him, which was made an incalculable 
blessing to the communitv among w4iom he came to 



MR. HOSKINS. 151 

reside. Wicked men hate religion, because it opposes 
their vices, and lays restraint upon their evil passions ; 
hence the first preachers of gospel truth, in every coun- 
try upon earth, no matter what may be the character 
or talent of the preachers themselves, are sure to suffer 
persecution. It was so w^ith John Hoskins, in Trinity 
Bay. 

Mr. Hoskins left London in the month of March, 
1774: he went down to Poole, and embarked for 
Newfoundland. 

The object of this good man, in leaving his native 
land, is clearly expressed in a letter to Mr. Wesley, 
dated Old Perhcan, Newfoundland, October 15, 1781. 

" Rev. Sir, — My design was to work there (in Newfoundland), 
till I got money enough to pay my passage to New England, where 
I intended to keep a school for a living, to work out my salvation, 
and to spend my little remains of life (being in my fifty-sixth year) 
with the people of God, and, as far as 1 was able, to help forward 
the salvation of others." ^ 

After five weeks' passage from Poole, he landed in 
the Harbor of Trinity, which he called a " barren and 
uncultivated country." A poor woman received him 
into her house ; and he says : '' She gave me some seal 
and bread to eat, and some coffee to drink, the best th« 
house afforded." After partaking of this poor woman's 
hospitality, he went in quest of employment, and was 
recommended to cross the bay to Old Perlican, to 
which place he now directed his way, and there com- 
menced his career of usefulness. 

There were then about fifty families in Perlican ; but 
there was no school for the children, and no kind of 
religious service whatever. Many of the people had 
never seen a church or minister ; but their fathers had 

1 Arminian Magazine, 1785, p. 25. 



152 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

come from England, and had called themselves church- 
men, and now they had got a school-master in their 
midst, they thought he might become a parson as well, 
and do for them what they had been told' parsons did 
in England. This was just what Mr. Hoskins wished. 
He therefore says : " I accepted the invitation to read 
prayers, as a call from God, knowing it was my duty 
to do all the good I could to the souls as well as the 
bodies of my fellow-creatures." His congregation was 
grossly ignorant, so that they did not know how to con- 
duct themselves : they would neither join in singing nor 
kneel with him in prayer, but stand and gaze at him as 
though he were some other beino; than a mortal man. 
On this he says : " My congregation did not know 
how to behave in divine service, no, not to kneel in 
prayer, or sing at all ; but would stand at a distance, and 
look at me, as if I had been a monster ; and yet they 
call themselves of the Church of England." 

In conducting divine service, he read the Church of 
England prayers, he sang Mr. Wesley's hymns, and he 
read Mr. Wesley's sermons. After a time, he began 
to explain some parts of the Prayer-Book, then to 
speak to the people about experimental religion, as re- 
pentance, remission of sins, and holiness, and insisted 
on the necessity of conversion. Some were soon awak- 
ened, began to kneel in prayer, and help him to sing, 
and evinced " a desire to flee from the wrath to come, 
and be saved from their sins ; " and with sixteen such 
persons, did Mr. Hoskins form the first Methodist soci- 
ety in that part of Newfoundland. 

In the year 1778-9, a great revival commenced in 
Old Perlican, when many were awakened, many were 
brought into the favor of God, and a religious influence 
was felt through the whole population. The next year. 



MR. HOSKINS. 153 

1780, the work spread over to Island Cove. Hearing 
what had taken place in Perlican, five or six persons 
came to see for themselves. While there, they were 
awakened, found religion, and went home to tell their 
friends in Island Cove what great things the Lord had 
done for them. Many listened to them, and sought 
the Lord ; so that a society was formed, also, in Island 
Cove, consisting of thirty members, who soon com- 
menced the erection of a Methodist church. But now 
came persecution. 

In Island Cove, our society sent up the bay for Mr. 
Thomey, who cheerfully complied with the invitation, 
and came down to preach to the people. But one even- 
ing, while he was preaching in our unfinished church, 
a party of men, armed with clubs, entered, and swore 
they would kill him. One of the party went directly 
up to Mr. Thomey, and made a blow at his head : he 
missed the man, but struck the candlestick. The 
friends now got between him and his enemies, and put 
them out of the building. After the meeting was over, 
they followed him, and again attempted his life ; but 
his friends again interfered, and he escaped unhurt. 

In Perlican, a young man in the employment of the 
firm of Lester, of Trinity, found " peace with God ; " 
but this was a crime, and his superior dismissed him 
from his employment, and sent him to England. In 
the month of August, Mr. Hoskins went to Trinity, 
with an intent to preach to the people ; but the mer- 
chants there, all of whom called themselves churchmen, 
would not allow a house to be opened for him to preach 
in. He, however, visited several families, prayed with 
them, and gave them some little books. Tracts, as we 
now call them, were not then known. After remain- 
ing in Trinity some days, and not being allowed to 



154 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

preach there, he prepared to return, and went to ask 
one of the merchants for a passage in one of his boats 
to Perhcan. The clerk tokl him that his employer 
Avas on board one of the ships. Mr. Hoskins went to 
the vessel, and, as soon as he got upon the deck, one of 
the sailors said to him, sarcastically, " Will you preach us 
a sermon ? " and immediately daubed his face with a tar- 
brush full of tar. Some more sailors laid hold, and 
held him, while others almost covered him with tar. 
The captain of the vessel and the honorable Trinity 
merchant were in the cabin at the time, and the only 
notice they took of it was a remark from the Trinity 
nabob to this effect : " If they had asked me, I would 
have given them feathers to have feathered him all 
over," — a memorable saying for a Newfoundland mer- 
chant. Thank God, there are no such merchants there 
now. When Mr. Hoskins left the vessel, one of the 
men threw a stick of w^ood after him, which missed 
him ; but it was accompanied with an oath, "• When 
we see you ashore, we will make an end of you." 
The next day some of the sailors went ashore to look 
for him, one of whom had a knotted rope in his hand 
to beat the preacher or any of his converts. The man 
with the knotted rope, probably under the effects of liq- 
uor, lay down and fell asleep, and, while he was in 
that state, Mr. Hoskins passed him unhurt. Not so 
with an individual, who, to the man on his awaking, 
was pointed out as one of the Hoskinites. The drunken 
sailor took hold of the poor man, and beat him severely, 
although he assured him that he was not a convert, 
nor was he from Old Perlican, but from English Har- 
bor ; and as though they wished to destroy his life, the 
merchants interdicted their skippers of boats from taking 
Mr. Hoskins out of the place. A friend, however, from 



MR. HOSKIXS. 155 

Old Perlican, came, a5 by stealth, and took him over 
the bay from the hands of his persecutors. 

But our Christian hero was not thus to be terrified 
into silence ; for the next summer he visited Trinity 
again. At that time there was a church in Trinity, 
but no clergyman. One of the readers of the Soci- 
ety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 
who was a fisherman, sometimes read prayers on Sab- 
bath afternoon. Mr. Hoskins now visited the people 
from house to house, and on Saturday afternoon put up 
a notice, that, if there were no service in the church, he 
would preach in the church-yard on the Sabbath at 
eleven o'clock. To annoy him, the flag was hauled up, 
and about six persons came, but there was no one to 
read prayers. He went outside, gave out and sung a 
hymn, then kneeled down to pray, when a constable 
came and took him before the magistrate, who demanded, 
" By what authority do you go about preaching ? " 
He took out his Bible, and said, " That is my authori- 
ty." The magistrate said he did not wish to hinder 
him from preaching on Rider's Hill, or anywhere else 
in the harbor, providing there were no riots. He 
spoke kindly to him, told him to take care of himself, 
for there were some sailors and other rude fellows, who 
proposed to abuse him ; and added " I would have pun- 
ished the men who abused you last year, if you had 
lodged your complaint to me." A house was now 
opened for him to preach in, and he was henceforth 
protected from lawless mobs. In Trinity, as in other 
places visited by John Hoskins, did the word preached 
'' profit them that heard it ; " and while we admit that 
in that harbor it has not had the same leavening influ- 
ence that it had in Old Perlican, yet it has been the 
means of salvation to many in that place, and, by the 



156 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

grace of God, Methodism still lives there and prospers. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Lock, whose name we have mentioned 
before, well remembered when Mr. Hoskins arrived : 
she heard his first sermon, and was present at his first 
class-meeting. Several other persons were known to 
the writer, who were acquainted with Mr. Hoskins ; 
and amono; them we mig-ht name those then ao-ed dis- 
ciples, Messrs. Gooby, Snelgrove, and Green. Mr. 
Green possessed some poetical genius. He had been 
converted under the preaching of John Hoskins : he 
cherished his memory, and would often speak of his 
labors, his persecutions, his success, and his peaceful 
end. To his spiritual father he would apply the fol- 
lowing lines : — 

" From softest boyhood to extreme old age, 
Pursued the way that led to endless rest ; 
And, ripening to his exit, 
Left in peace." 

The society which Mr. Hoskins formed in Old Per- 
lican was called Hoskinites by their enemies ; and 
sometimes the cognomen Swaddler, imported from Ire- 
land, was shouted, as the members went or returned 
from their religious meetings. 

Although Mr. Hoskins was very careful to read all 
the prayers appointed in the Rubric, yet singing hymns, 
reading Wesley's sermons, and talking to the people 
about *' repentance and faith and pardon and holi- 
ness, were, they understood, subjects that the parsons 
in England seldom or never named ! This man, 
therefore, could not be a churchman ; and hence they 
would curse him as an enemy to the religion of their 
fathers. But God continued to bless his labors, and 
many sinners were converted, both in Perlican and in 
Island Cove. In the former place, in particular, the 



PIONEERS OF METHODISM. 157 

congregation increased, so that no house in the harbor 
"was sufficiently large to contain the people. A small 
Methodist chapel was therefore erected, — a plain, rough 
building, in which the congregation continued to wor- 
ship God for nearly fifty years. The ruins of this old 
chapel the writer well remembers to have seen when 
on the circuit in 1821. At that time, the son of Mr. 
Hoskins was living, who was about fifteen years old 
when he came with his father to Perlican ; and from 
him several particulars in this narrative were obtained. 

Thus there were two bodies of Methodists in differ- 
ent parts of the island, — one in Harbor Grace, under 
the care of John Stretton and Arthur Thomey ; the 
other in Old Perlican, under the care of John Hos- 
kins. The distance of these places from each other is 
about fifty miles. 

The emigration of Philip Embury to New York, 
with every particular connected with the introduction 
of Methodism into the United States, is detailed in 
every Wesleyan history extant ; but Newfoundland, 
which has a prior claim as Methodist ground, receives 
only a passing notice. Lawrence Coughlan is some- 
times named ; John Stretton, very seldom ; but John 
Hoskins, the humble, pious, and faithful school-master 
and local preacher, who first taught the children in 
Old Perlican to read, and who first preached the gos- 
pel to the destitute fishermen on the rough shores of 
Trinity Bay, seems to have been unknown to our his- 
torians and annalists. 

But these were the pioneers of Methodism ; and the 
honor which the Great Head of the Church thus con- 
ferred upon them shall not pass away : it shall be last- 
ing as eternity ; for, *' they that be wise shall shine as 

14 



158 Newfoundland and its missionaries. 

the brightness of the firmament, and they that torn 
many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 

Mr. Stretton was engaged in his mercantile affairs, 
which required his whole attention during the week ; 
and Mr. Hoskins could not leave his school to itiner- 
ate beyond the village. Beside which, Popery was 
establishing itself in Harbor Grace and other parts of 
Conception Bay ; and there was great danger of the 
Protestants being drawn away by its mummeries. 
After thinking, and doubtless praying, over these mat- 
ters for some time, Mr. Stretton determined to put 
himself in correspondence with Mr. Wesley, and, if 
possible, get a regular preacher sent out as a missionary 
to Newfoundland. In this letter, he said : " The work 
is at a stand here, and superstition and profaneness 
increasing ; we want one given wholly to the work. A 
preacher should not be entangled with the affairs of 
this life. It has not been the desire of getting rich 
that has kept me here ; but I have been waiting to see 
the motion of the incumbent cloud, and dare not desert 
my post until lawfully discharged. Single and alone, 
the Lord has enabled me to withstand the whole place 
where I dwell ; and I am still preserved by the power 
of God." 

Ao-ain he savs : " Whoever seeks ease or comfort is 
not likely to meet much of it in this island. Blessed be 
God, who has so wonderfully kept and supported me 
for many years in this dreary region ! When I have 
been weak, then was I strong." ^ 

The above was partly written to Mr. Wesley direct, 
and partly to a friend who seems to have made known 
the contents of the letter to him. 

^ Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1851, p. 872. 



LETTER FROM MR. WESLEY. 159 

A reply was sent by Mr. Wesley, the autograph of 
which the writer had the pleasure of reading. It was 
shown to him by Mrs. Stretton, in Harbor Grace, in 
1826. It reads thus : — 

" London, Feb. 25, 1785. 

" My dear Brother, — You did well in breaking through that 
needless diffidence : if you had wrote sooner, you would have 
heard from me sooner. Although I have not been at Limerick 
for some years, yet I remember your father and mother well. 
They truly feared God when I conversed with them. Be a fol- 
lower of them, as they of Christ. 

" If that deadly enemy of true religion, Popery, is breaking in 
upon you, there is indeed no time to be lost ; for it is far easier 
to prevent the plague than stop it. Last autumn, Dr. Coke sailed 
from England, and is now visiting the flock in the midland prov- 
ince of America, and settling them on the New Testament plan, 
to which they all willingly and joyfully conform, being all united 
as by one spirit, so in one body. I trust they will no more want 
such pastors as after (lod's own heart. After he has gone 
through these parts, he intends (if God permit) to see the brethren 
in Nova Scotia, probably attended with one or two able preachers, 
who will be willing to abide there. A day or two ago, I wrote 
and desired him, before he returns to England, to call upon our 
brethren also in Newfoundland, and perhaps leave a preacher there 
hkewise. About food and raiment, we take no thought Our 
heavenly Father knoweth that we need these things, and he will 
provide. Only let us be faithful and diligent in feeding his flock. 
Your preacher will be ordained. Go on, in the name of the 
Lord, and in the power of his might. You shalLwant no assist- 
ance that is in the power of your affectionate friend and brother, 

" John Wesley. 

"To Mr. John St|6etton, in Harbor Grace, Newfoundland." 

Dr. Coke did not call at Newfoundland on his way 
to England, as be had no preacher to leave there ; but, 
at the conference, Mr. Wesley fully redeemed his 
promise to Mr. Stretton ; for Newfoundland was placed 
on the minutes, and John McGeary and James Crom- 
well were appointed as the preachers. James Crom- 



160 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

well never came ; but John McGeary left England soon 
after the conference, and arrived early in the autumn. 
Of this event, Mr. Stretton takes the following notice 
in a letter to a friend : — 

" In October, 1 785, a preacher arrived here from London, sent 
by Mr. Wesley. His name is John McGeary, — a good man and a 
good preacher : I hope he will prove a blessing to this place." 

Synchronical with the preaching of Philip Embury, 
Richard Boardman, and Joseph Pilmoor to the sparse 
and destitute settlers on the American continent, and 
the labors of Lawrence Coughlan, John Stretton, and 
John Hoskins, on the shores of Newfoundland, some of 
the mightiest minds that our own or any other church 
has ever produced were actively engaged in investigat- 
ing the theory of, and organizing a system of discipline 
for, Methodism, that should place it in a high position 
amono; Protestant churches, and o;ive it a stand and a 
reimtation that no one had imagined. 

John Wesley, our venerable founder, was then in his 
prime, and in the full strength of his mature judgment. 
He was evidently raised up, by the providence of God, 
to enlighten the nations of Christendom, and to revive, 
enforce, and defend the pure apostohc doctrines and 
practices of the primitive church. In learning and 
sincere piety, scarcely inferior to any. In zeal, minis- 
terial labors, and extensive usefulness, superior, perhaps, 
to all men, since the days of Saint Paul. Regardless 
of fatigue, personal danger, and disgrace, he went out 
into the highways and hedges, calling sinners to repent- 
ance, and publishing the Gospel of Peace. 



CONCEPTION BAY. 161 

He was 
sixty-five years 
in the ministry, and 
fifty-two an itinerant preacher. 
He lived to see, in three kingdoms only, 
about three hundred itinerant and one thousand 
local preachers, raised up from the midst of his own people, 
and eighty thousand persons in the societies under 
his care. His name will be ever had in grate- 
ful remembrance by all who rejoice in 
the universal speed of 
the Gospel of 
Christ. 

SOLI DEO GLORIA.^ 

As Mr. Wesley lived, so he died, in the favor of God. 
One of his dying expressions, repeated again and again, 
was, " The best of all is, God is with us ! " " How 
necessary,'' said the dying saint, "it is for every one 
to be on a right foundation." 

** I the chief of sinners am ; 
But Jesus died for me.^* 

A little while before he expired, he broke out in a 
manner which astonished all present, in these words : — 

" I'll praise my Maker while I've breath ; 
And when my voice is lost in death, 

Praise shall employ my nobler powers : 
My days of praise shall ne'er be past, 
While life, and thought, and being last, 
Or immortahty endures." 

Charles Wesley, the poet of Methodism, who com- 
posed six hundred and twenty-five out of the seven 
hundred and sixty-nine hymns found in the Methodist 
hymn-book. The poetry of these hymns is pure : the 
theology is perfectly evangelical. Dr. Watts was a 
good poet, and many of his compositions are fine, and 

1 Epitaph upon a marble tablet in the City-Road Chapel. 
14* 



162 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

truly devotional ; but in the richness of evangelical 
sentiment, in deep religious experience, as well as in 
variety of metres and in the general construction of 
verse, lie must yield to Charles Wesley. That this is 
the view of the Christian public is evident, from the 
fact, tliat scarcely a collection of hymns is used by any 
evangelical church wherever the English language is 
spoken, but a considerable number of his compositions 
are embodied, and are admired by the spiritually 
minded. 

Every important doctrine of Holy Scripture, every 
degree of spiritual experience, almost every shade of 
religious thought and feeling, and nearly every ordi- 
nary relation and incident of human life, are treated in 
his abundant and ever-varying verse. No poet sur- 
passes him in the variety of his themes. Rarely can 
any man open his volumes without finding something 
apposite to his own moods and wants. 

" The soul of Charles Wesley was imbued with poetic 
genius. His thoughts seemed to bask and revel in 
rhythm. The variety of his metres (said to be 
unequalled by any English writer whatever) shows 
how impulsive were his pathetic emotions, and how 
wonderful his facihty in their spontaneous utterance. 
There are twenty-six different metres in the Wesleyan 
Hymn-Book. They march, at times, like lengthened 
processions, with solemn grandeur ; they sweep, at 
other times, like chariots of fire through the heavens ; 
they are broken, like the sobs of grief at the grave- 
side ; play like the joyful affections of childhood 
at the hearth, or shout like victors in the fray of the 
battle-field. No man ever surpassed Charles Wesley 
in harmonies of language. 

" He never seems to labor in his poetic compositions. 



CHARLES WESLEY. 163 

The reader feels that they were necessary utterances of 
a heart palpitating with emotion and music. No words 
seem to be put in for effect ; but effective phrases, brief, 
surprising, incapable of improvement, are continually 
and spontaneously occurring, like hghtning, revealing 
for a moment the whole hemisphere. His language is 
never tumid ; the most and the least cultivated minds 
appreciate him with surprised delight : his metaphors, 
abundant and vivid, are never far-fetched, and his 
rhymes are never constrained." ^ The Methodist 
Hymn-Book is an invaluable treasure. 

The passing events of life, and even social gatherings, 
were improved by him in his soul-stirring lyrics. We 
shall give, as an example, that beautiful hymn found on 
page 455, composed and sung by him at a tea^-party : — 

" How happy are we, 

Who in Jesus agree, 
To expect his return from above ! 

We sit under his vine. 

And delightfully join 
In the praise of his excellent love. 

" How pleasant and sweet, 

In his name when we meet, 
Is his fruit to our s])iritual taste ! 

We are banqueting here 

On angelical cheer, 
And the joys that eternally last. 

" Invited by him, 

Wc drink of the stream 
Ever flowing in bliss from the throne : 

Who in Jesus believe, 

We the spirit receive 
That proceeds from the Father and Son. 

* Stevens' History, vol. ii. p. 497. 



164 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

" Come, Lord from the skies, 

And command us to rise, 
Ready made for the mansions above ; 

With our Head to ascend, 

And e'ternity spend 
In a raptm-e of heavenly love.'* 

Poetry was in the soul of Charles Wesley until his 
heart ceased to beat. When so ill that he could not 
use a pen, he called Mrs. Wesley to him, and dictated 
the following lines : — 

" In age and feebleness extreme, 
Who shall a sinful worm redeem '{ 
Jesus, my only hope thou art. 
Strength of my failing flesh and heart ; 
Oh, let me catch one smile from thee. 
And di'op into eternity." 

John Fletcher, the pious vicar of Madeley, was at that 
time engaged in his defence of Wesley on Theology. The 
peculiar teaching of Calvinism is to limit the blessings 
of gospel salvation to part of the human race ; and to 
say of the other part, that, from eternity, they were 
doomed to eternal death ; or, as it is sometimes modified, 
they are passed hy in the plan of redemption, and left 
to perish in their sins without any hope. On the other 
hand, it is the mission of the Methodist Church to de- 
clare that the Son of God assumed human nature, 
" that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for 
every man;^^ and to preach a free and a full salva- 
tion to all. These opposing views were sure to come 
in contact, which they did, in a remarkable manner, by 
. the publication of the conference minutes of 1770. 
These minutes contained the views of the preachers on 
this subject, presented in the form of a series of detached 
propositions drawn up for their use and guidance. That 
the reader may understand this matter, we will make 



CONFERENCE MINUTES. 165 

the extract from the minute in question. In the con- 
ference of 1770, it was asked : — 

Quest. 28. " What can be done to revive the work of God 
where it is decayed ? 

" Ans. 6. Take heed to your doctrine. 

" We said, in 1744, ' We have leaned too much toward Calvin- 
ism.' Wherein ? 

" 1. With regard to man's faithfulness. Our Lord himself taught 
us to use the expression ; and we ought never to be ashamed of it. 
We ought steadily to assert, on his authority, that if a man is not 
* faithful in the unrighteous mammon,' God will not give him the 
true riches. 

" 2. With regard to walking for life. This also our Lord has 
expressly commanded us. ' Labor (ergazesthe) literally, work 
for the meat that endureth to everlasting life.' And, in fact, 
every believer, till he come to glory, works for as well as from 
life. 

" 3. We have received as a maxim, that a man is to do nothing 
in order to justification. Nothing can be more false. Whoever 
desires to find favor with God should ' cease from evil, and learn 
to do well.' Whoever repents should do 'works meet for re- 
pentance.' And if this is not in order to find favor, what does he 
do them for ? 

" Review the whole affair. 

" 1. Who of us is now accepted of God ? 

"He that now believes in Christ, with a loving and obedient 
heart. 

•' 2. But who among those who never heard of Christ ? 

" He that feareth God, and worketh righteousness according to 
the light he has. 

" 3. Js this the same with he that is sincere ? 

" Nearly, if not quite. 

" 4. Is not this salvation by works ? 

" Not by the merit of works, but by works as a condition. 

" 5. What have we then been disputing about for these thir- 
ty years ? 

" I am afraid, about words. 

" 6. As to merit itself, of which we have been so dreadfully 
afraid : we are rewarded ' according to our works ; ' yea, ' because 
of our works.' How does this differ from, for the sake of our 



166 ]*TEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

works ? And hoAv differs this from secundum merita operum ? 
as our tcorks deserve ? Can you split this hair ? I doubt I can- 
not. 

" 7. The grand objection to one of the. preceding propositions 
is drawn from matter of fact. God does, in fact, justify those who 
by their own confession neither feared God nor wrought righteous-* 
ness. Is this an exception to the general rule ? 

" It is a doubt whether God makes any exception at all. But 
are we sure that the person in question never did fear God and 
work righteousness? His own saying so is not proof : for we 
know how all that are convinced of sin undervalue themselves 
in every respect. 

" 8. Does not talking of a justified or a sanctified state tend 
to mislead men, — almost naturally leading them to trust in what 
was done in one moment ? Whereas we are every hour and every 
moment pleasing or displeasing to God, ' according to our works,' — 
according to the whole of our inward tempers and our outward 
behavior." 

Had Mr. Wesley been writing at this time an article 
on Methodist theology, for popular use, he would have 
been more particular, and expressed his meaning more 
at large. But that was not the object of the minutes : 
they were drawn up to guard the ev^angelical doctrine 
of salvation by grace, as preached by the conference, 
from Antinomian abuses. It was unkind to pervert 
them. But so it was. Lady Huntingdon was the 
leading mind, and was said to be the head of the Cal- 
vinistic clergy of the day. She was a good woman ; 
and she employed her influence, her talents, and her 
fortune in the cause of religion. A little before this, 
six students of St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, were cited 
to appear before the proper authorities, for holding Meth- 
odistic tenets, and taking U]j07i them to pray, read, and 
expound the Scriptures, in private houses. Dr. Dixon, 
principal of St. Edmund's, defended the accused stu- 
dents from the Thirty-nine Articles, and spoke in the 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 167 

highest terms of their piety and exemplary hves ; but 
his motion for their acquittal was overruled, and they 
were expelled. 

This monstrous act of expelling young clergymen 
from college, for reading, praying, and expounding the 
Scriptures, produced a great sensation among religious 
people throughout the country. 

Her ladysiiip, who was a church-woman, felt this 
most keenly ; and she opened her college at Trevecca, in 
Wales, for young clerical students, where it was not 
expected similar circumstances would ever transpire. 
Of the Trevecca college, the Rev. John Fletcher was 
president, and the Rev. Joseph Benson was head master. 

The minute of conference did not accord with the 
hyper-CalvinistIc views of Lady Huntingdon ; and, not- 
withstanding her former respect for Mr. Wesley, she 
raised a terrible storm ao;ainst him and the whole con- 
ference. Not very unlike the affair of St. Edmund's 
Hall, she declared that whoever did not wholly disavow 
the obnoxious minutes should leave Trevecca College. 
Her wrath first fell upon Mr. Benson, who, although 
his piety was unquestionable, and his classical talent of 
superior order, yet, because he avowed his concurrence 
with Mr. Wesley, he was forthwith discharged, but with 
a certificate, stating that no complaint lay against either 
his personal character, his scholarship, or his ability to 
teach. Mr. Fletcher, whose services as president of 
the college were gratuitous, now sent in his resignation, 
which was promptly received. 

Not satisfied with expelling the Methodists from Tre- 
vecca College, her ladyship determined to get up an 
anti-Wesleyan demonstration in the city of Bristol, 
where the next conference was to be held, to effect 
which she got a printed circular, signed by the Hon. 



168 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and Rev. Walter Shirley, ^vho acted as her ladyship's 
aojent. This circular read as follows : — 

" Sir, — "Whereas Mr. Wesley's conference is to be held at Bris- 
tol on Tuesday, the sixth of August next, it is proposed by Lady, 
Huntingdon, and many other Christian friends (real Protestants), 
to have a meeting at Bristol, at the same time, of such principal 
persons, both clergy and laity, who disapprove of the underwritten 
minutes ; and, as the same are thought injurious to the very fun- 
damental principles of Christianity, it is further purposed that they 
go in a body to the said conference, and insist upon a formal re- 
cantation of the said minutes ; and, in case of a refusal, to publish 
their protest against them. Your presence, sir, on this occasion, 
is particularly requested; but if it should not suit your convenience 
to be there, it is desired that you will transmit your sentiments on 
the subject to such persons as you think proper to produce them. 
It is submitted to you, whether it would not be right, in the oppo- 
sition to be made to such dreadful heresy, to recommend it to as 
many of your Christian friends, as well of the dissenters as of the 
established church, as you can prevail upon to be there, the cause 
being of so general a nature. I am, sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" Walter Shirley." 

All this flourish of trumpets ended in mere sound as 
far as injury to Methodism was concerned ; for the 
whole thing was so perfectly ridiculous that neither man, 
W'Oman, nor child obeyed this summons, or repaired to 
Bristol for any such purpose as named in the circular. 

But this affair brought on the great Calvinistic con- 
troversy, which, while a number of persons on both 
sides entered into it, yet, on the Arminian side, w^as 
mostly taken up by Mr. Fletcher. His " Checks," writ- 
ten with so much thought and logical acumen, and, 
withal, in such a devotional and heavenly spirit, have 
put multitudes right on this point of theology. They 
still control the minds of evangelical ministers every- 
where ; they have softened down the asperities of those 



ROBERT SWINDELLS. 169 

who adv^ocate a limited salvation ; they have given a 
clearness and perspicuity to Methodist preaching, that has 
caused its doctrines to be listened to by vast multitudes, 
and given it a great amount of influence and of power. 

Joseph Benson, dismissed from Trevecca College for 
his Methodism, then refused orders in the establishment 
for the same reason, now went forth in the highways 
preaching Jesus. 

His knowledge of the Greek Testament was pro- 
found ; his grasp of mind on theological subjects was 
most extensive ; his voice, although weak, was heard 
by listening thousan^P ; when the depth and range of 
thought, the fervor of his zeal, his clear expositions of 
Scripture, and his frequent bursts of eloquence, would 
astonish the hearers, and cause the stoutest sinner in 
their midst to tremble. 

Robert Swindells, one of Mr. Wesley's first, and one 
of his best, lay itinerants, did much good in Ireland, 
and suffered much from Irish mobs. He beo;an to 
preach in 1741. Many were converted to God through 
his instrumentality ; and among them was that distin- 
guished scholar, Thomas Walsh. In the minutes of 
1783, the following obituary is found ; '' Robert Swin- 
dells had been with us above forty years. He was an 
Israelite indeed. In all those years I never knew him 
to speak a word which he did not mean ; and he always 
spoke the truth in love. I believe no one ever heard 
him speak an unkind word. He went through exquis- 
ite pain for many years, but he was not w^eary. He 
was still ' patient in bearing ill, and doing welL* One 
thing lie had almost peculiar to himself : he had no en- 
emy ; so remarkably was that word fulfilled, ' Blessed 
are the merciful ; for they shall obtain mercy.' " 

Thomas Walsh was awakened while listening to a 

15 



170 N'EWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

sermon from that text, " Come unto me, all ye that la- 
bor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," 
preached on the parade-ground, at Limerick, in 1749, by 
Robert Swindells. He had been educated, and was de- 
signed for the Roman Catholic priesthood. He was a 
young man of most extraordinary talent and learning 
as well as piety. lSii\ Wesley once said, respecting this 
Irish youth : '* I knew a young man who was so thor- 
oughly acquainted with the Bible, that, if he was ques- 
tioned concerning any Hebrew word in the Old, or any 
Greek in the New Testament, he would tell, after a 
brief pause, not only how often tlie one or the other oc- 
curred in the Bible, but what it meant in every place. 
Such a master of biblical knowledge I never saw be- 
fore, and never expect to see again. His name was 
Thomas Walsh." In the pulpit, "there was a saintly 
diojnity and a moral grandeur about him that struck 
his hearers with solemn awe. While preaching Jesus, 
*' he seemed to be clothed with the ardor and majesty 
of a seraph." For depth of piety, for fervent zeal, for 
dilio;ence in his studies, and for extensive and constant 
labor, he has had no superior in the whole Methodist 
itinerancy. He died a martyr to his work. His con- 
stitution was feeble, but he labored as if it had been 
strong. He preached constantly twice, sometimes 
thrice a day, beside visiting his people from house to 
house ; yet his studies were pursued as if they were his 
only occupation. He rose at four o'clock every morn- 
ing, and pored over his books until late at night. 
When he walked the streets of great cities, he seemed 
absorbed in contemplation and prayer, entirely unob- 
servant of surrounding objects. He began his minis- 
try at twenty years of age, and closed his life at the 
early age of twenty-eight. 



THOMAS OLIVERS. 171 

Thomas Olivers was a wonderful example of the 
power of religion on the sinner's heart. He was one 
of the trophies of early INIethodism, rescued as he was 
by its influence from a state of almost hopeless reproba- 
cy. He was a Welshman, and by trade a shoemaker ; 
hence his enemies have sometimes called him the " holy 
cobbler." He used, before his conversion, to travel 
over the country, sometimes working at his trade, but 
plunging in all kinds of vice, contracting debts, and 
cono-ratulatino; himself on his adroitness in fraud. He 
was converted under the preaching of Mr. Whitefield ; 
when he purchased a horse, visited his old haunts of 
vice, paid his debts with interest, and begged pardon 
from all persons whom he had in any way injured. 
He connected himself with Mr. Wesley, and became a 
zealous and very useful Methodist preacher. He was a 
laborious and indefatigable student, so that Mr. Wes- 
ley made him corrector of the press in London. He 
took part in the Calvinistic controversy. He composed 
that beautiful hymn, page 609, beginning : — 

" The God of Abraham praise, 
Who I'eigns enthroned above." 

Of this hymn, Montgomery says : " There is not in 
our language a lyric of more majestic style, more ele- 
vated thought, or more glowing imagery." He also 
composed the tune called " Helmsly," for the hymn on 
page 68 : — 

" Lo ! he comes, with clouds descending." 

He died in 1799, and the minutes of that year con- 
tain the following obituary notice : — 

" Thomas Olivers, who died advanced in years. In 
his younger days, he was a zealous, able, and useful 
travelling preacher ; but for a considerable part of his 



172 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

life, he was employed by Mr. Wesley as the corrector 
of his press. His talents were very considerable ; and 
his attachment to Mr. Wesley and the cause of Meth- 
odism was fully evinced by several masterly publica- 
tions." 

Samuel Bradburn, the Demosthenes of Methodism, 
was received on trial, as a travelling preacher, at 
tlie conference of 1774. He was a man of uncommon 
wit, and much given to humor. As a preacher, his 
grasp of thought was amazing. His discourses were 
rich, sublime, and mighty ; and his eloquence was over- 
powering. Dr. Adam Clarke, who knew him well, 
being once asked to describe his eloquence, replied : " I 
have never heard his equal. I can furnish you with no 
adequate idea of his powers as an orator. We have 
not a man among us that will support anything like a 
comparison with him. Another Bradburn must be 
created, and you must hear him yourself, before you 
can receive a satisfactory answer to your inquiry." He 
died in 1816 ; and the minutes make the following 
record : '•' His ministry was owned of God for the sal- 
vation of many ; and for several years he was considered, 
not only as one of the first preachers in the land for all 
the higher powers of persuasive eloquence, but as a 
faithful laborer in the vineyard of the Lord." It was 
the privilege of the writer in his youth to sit under the 
ministry of this then aged, but still wonderfully elo- 
quent, Christian minister. 

We mention last, but not least, Thomas Coke, LL. D., 
a Welshman by birth, a gentleman by fortune, an 
Episcopal clergyman, and a man of extensive learning. 
He was the founder, the advocate, the champion, and 
to a great extent the supporter, of the first Methodist 
mission. He employed his talents, he spent his ample 



EARLY METHODIST PREACHERS. lid 

fortune, and devoted his" life, to the cause of missions, 
and, having founded the West Indian mission, and or- 
ganized the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United 
States, watched over, and repeatedly visited, the mis- 
sions in the West. He essayed to go to India vs^ith a 
small band of missionaries ; but, ere the ship reached 
the end of her voyage, he v^as called from his labor to 
his reward. 

Such were the talents, such were the character, the 
labors, and the success of the early Methodist preach- 
ers ; and the men who were so greatly honored in being 
instrumental in laying the foundation of Methodism in 
Great Britain and Ireland were also the spiritual fath- 
ers and tutors of the first missionaries in Newfound- 
land. We need not, then, wonder at the devotedness 
of those missionaries, or the result of their labors. 
They preached, on the shores of Newfoundland, Metho- 
dist doctrines fully ; they caused the people to under- 
stand them thoroughly. They taught them the soul- 
stirring lyrics of the Poet of Methodism ; the same 
which are now sung with enthusiasm in their public 
congregations, and are to be heard in " duet " or " solo " 
as the vessels glide over the ocean billows, and melodi 
ously sung by their females while engaged in their 
domestic work, or while toiling in the dreary hours of 
night ; by the sublime and heaven-inspired strains of 
our hymns are they edified in their religious meetings, 
and comforted in sickness and in death ; and the gos- 
pel heard by that people from Methodist missionaries 
has proved to thousands of them " the power of God 
unto salvation." 

15* 



CHAPTER V 



JOHN MCGEARY — VISIT OF REV. WILLIAM BLACK — GEORGE SMITH— WIL- 
LIAM THORESBY — JOHN REMMINGTON — WILLIAM ELLIS — SAMUEL 
MCDOWELL — WILLIAM WARD — SAMPSON BUSBY — STATE OP THE 
METHODIST MISSIONS IN 1785 — STATE OF ENGLAND IN 1798 — MIS- 
SIONS IN 1813 — STATE OF INDIA — DR. COKE SAILS FOR INDIA — 
ORIGIN OF THE METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY — NEWFOUNDLA]SD 
DISTRICT. 



JOHN McGEARY is the first name which appears 
on the minutes of conference as a missionary to 
Newfoundland. In the same year was commenced the 
West Indian mission ; and Antigua was the island where 
Methodism was planted in that important field of labor. 
Newfoundland was then truly missionary ground. 
The country was not colonized ; the forests were in 
their primitive simplicity ; there were no roads, but 
few horses, and no vehicles of any kind ; no bridges ; 
and the weary traveller, w^itli his knapsack or nunny- 
bag at his back, would climb the rocks, and wade every 
stream in his way. The children without education, 
the people without religious instruction, and the land 
without Bibles, demonstrated the wisdom of our founder 
and the conference in 1785, in selecting that country 
as one of the first spots on the earth's surface where 
British missionary operations should commence ; where 
the first rays of evangelical light should shine into the 
dense darkness that had overspread the British Provin- 
ces, as well as other lands, which, like the rays from the 
morning sun, should continue to penetrate the moral 
gloom ; and the Sabbath school, the Bible Society, 

(174) 



REV. MR. MCGEARY. 175 

and other adjuncts of the gospel, soon then to be 
brought mto existence, should, like our atmosphere, 
reflect and refract that light, until " the earth shall 
be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." 

Mr. McGeary was a plain, laborious Methodist 
preacher. His circuit was an immense one : it ex- 
tended from Port de Grave, in Conception Bay, to 
Old Perlican, in Trinity Bay, — a distance of between 
fifty and sixty miles ; all of which distance he travelled 
on foot, except a chance time when he might get down 
the shore in a fishing-boat. 

He was often discouraged in his work, but he had 
much cause for rejoicing. Persecution and lukewarm- 
ness had indeed scattered the flock in Harbor Grace ; 
but he gathered another flock in Carbonear, about four 
miles distant, and built a Methodist church there : 
from which time, Carbonear continued to be, and is 
still, the head-quarters of Methodism in the island. 
Here we have ever found some of our best fi:iends and 
most liberal supporters. The people are kind to a prov- 
erbfc Our church is a noble structure. Our congre- 
gation is very large and respectable ; and our members 
there are now almost one-sixth of the whole member- 
ship of the district. 

In the minutes of 1787, two years after Mr. Mo- 
Geary went to Newfoundland, one hundred members 
are returned for that mission. This was the first time 
the number of members on the mission stations was 
pubhshed. From 1785 to 1791, Mr. McGeary con- 
tinued to have the whole island as his circuit ; but in 
the minutes of 1791, appears the first circuit appoint- 
ment, and the name of this pioneer of Methodism is 
put down for Carbonear. The number of our members 



17G NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

« 

was one hundred and fifty. This was the year the 
Rev. John Wesley was called to his reward. 

During the summer of 1791, the solitary life of our 
missionary was relieved and cheered by the arrival, on 
a visit, of the Rev. William Black, the apostle of Nova 
Scotia. Mr. Black landed at St. Johns on the 10th 
of August, where, after remaining one day, he walked 
to Portugal Cove, and there, in an open fishing-boat, 
crossed Conception Bay to Carbonear, a distance of 
seven leagues, where he met Mr. McGeary. The 
meetino; of these laborers from different fields of labor 
is thus described by Dr. Richey, in the " Life of the 
Rev. W. Black."' Mr. McGeary hailed Mr. Black 
with the liveliest emotions of gratitude and joy. 

" I have been weeping before the Lord (said he) over my 
lonely situation and the darkness of the people, and your coming 
is like life from the dead." 

Sabbath, August 14th, Mr. Black preached his 
first sermon in Carbonear : several were awakened, 
and several backsliders were restored. In the evening 
of that day thirty-seven persons gave their names to 
meet in class. 

Wednesday, 17th, he preached again in Carbonear 
Church. He says : — 

" While I was preaching, some began to cry aloud. I ceased 
preaching, and began to pray. My voice was nearly drowned. 
Weeping on every side. I left the pulpit, and passed through the 
church, exhorting those who were wounded to cry for mercy. 
All over the chapel, three or four were to be seen in almost every 
pew thus affected." 

Auo;ust 18th, Mr. Black writes : — 

" I accompanied Brother Stretton, a judicious and upright man, 
to Harbor Grace, and preached in the evening in the church he 
had built at his own expense." 



REV. MR. BLACK. 177 

Sabbath, 21st, lie writes : — 

"After preaching in the morning to about three hundred people 
at Port de Grave, I addressed nearly the same number in Bay 
Roberts in the afternoon. Here I found twenty-six who met in 
class, but not regularly : of these, few only enjoy the consolations 
of experimental godliness. I added four to their number, fur- 
nished them with a class-paper, explained the rules of the society, 
and left them in charge of George Vey, the leader, a pious young 
man, who I trust will be a blessing." 

The anticipations of Mr. Black, in reference to 
George Vey, were fully realized. Thirty years after 
the above entry w^as made in Mr. Black's journal, the 
writer became acquainted with George Vey, not then 
indeed a young man, but an infirm old man ; and 
during that long time had this good man been faithful 
as a class-leader and as a local preacher. He lived in 
the constant enjoyment of the favor of God ; he was 
beloved by all who knew^ him ; he was a blessing to the 
neighborhood where he resided ; and at length, full 
of years and honor, he went triumphantly home to 
God. 

Mr. Black travelled down the bay to Freshwater 
and Blackhead. In both places the same gracious 
influence was felt among the people. 

To chronicle all the occurrences of interest that 
transpired during this eventful visit, or even to advert 
to the numerous cases of conversion, in which Mr. 
Black gives the names of individuals, would draw out 
these details to a disproportionate length. Those al- 
ready exhibited amply evince the extraordinary im- 
pression produced, under the divine blessing, by his 
ministry in Newfoundland, " the result of which," in 
the words of the Rev. Richard Knight, seventeen years 
of wdiose highly useful missionary life were spent in 
the same scene of labor, " was a large accession to the 



liS NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Methodist Society, and the dawn of that brighter day 
which has since shone upon our mission in that island. 
No less than two hundred souls were converted to God 
during his brief sojourn in Conception Bay. Nor are 
the fruits of that visit to be estimated by its immediate 
results. He organized Methodism, settled the mission 
property, and secured it to the connection, increased 
and inspirited the society, and obtained them the help 
they needed." ^ 

Of Mr. Black's visit, Mr. Stretton makes the follow- 
in o; record : — 

"•November, 1791. The Lord was pleased to revive his work 
in a most remarkable manner last August, through the instrumen- 
tality of Mr. William Black, of Halifax, in Nova Scotia. He came 
hither on a visit, spent about six weeks among us, and then re- 
turned. Many were converted, chiefly young people ; and since 
Mr. Black's departure, I have gathered near sixty young persons 
and many little children, that have serious impressions on their 
minds. This work was the most extraordinary I have ever seen. 
Tliis is the day my soul has longed for. I could almost take up 
Simeon's exclamation ! Surely, He who has begun this glorious 
work in the dreary wilderness will carry it on, until this dark 
region is illuminated with gospel light, knowledge, and love."^ 

Mr. McGeary, after laboring seven years, returned 
to England, when the number of members reported for 
Newfoundland was two hundred and seventy. 

In 1792 and 1793, Newfoundland is omitted in the 
minutes of conference ; and, to the great loss of our so- 
cieties, no preacher was sent there during those two 
years ; but, in the year 1794, it received a second con- 
ference appointment, in the person of that excellent 
man, George Smith, who had been two years an assistant 
with R. C. Brackenbury, Esq., a wealthy layman who 

1 Methodist Magazine for 1851, p. 873. 

2 Life of Rev. William Black, by Dr. Kichey, p. 274- 



WILLIAM THORESBY. 179 

gave himself to the work of the ministry, and paid all 
his own expenses. 

Mr. Smith commenced his itinerancy in 1792. He 
was a Methodist preacher of the John Wesley type ; 
a man of strong constitution, a good preacher, deeply 
pious, and of great zeal in the cause of Christ. He 
extended our mission to Bonavista, where he had much 
fruit of his labors ; and, among many others, Charles 
Saint experienced converting grace. Mr. Saint after- 
ward became a local preacher, and preached with much 
acceptance, and led a class with great fidelity. He 
lived many years, an ornament to our church ; and at 
length, after much suffering, which he bore with Chris- 
tian patience, he went to the land of rest. His son 
James now fills an important position in our church ; 
and his children, both male and female, seem deter- 
mined to meet their honored crrandsire before the 
throne in glory. Our church in Bonavista has never 
dechned ; and our minutes for the year 1863 show our 
membership there to be two hundred and ninety, and 
fifty on trial. Mr. Smith subsequently was stationed in 
various circuits in England, in all of which his ministry 
was greatly owned of God. He died, Jan. 25th, 1832, 
aged sixty-six years. 

The year before Mr. Smith left, William Thoresby 
was appointed ; and 1796 was the first year when two 
preachers were allotted to that extensive and important 
mission. The entry on the minutes reads thus : " New- 
foundland, William Thoresby, George Smith." 
Mr. Thoresby remained on the island two years. He 
was a man of excellent pulpit talent, and, wherever he 
preached, he had crowded congregations. He returned 
home in 1798, at which time our membership was five 
hundred and ten. He died in 1809. In 1799, Wil- 



IbO NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

liam Bulpitt came to Newfoundland, and continued 
there until 1807, when he removed to Nova Scotia. 

Our next missionary was John Remmington, a na- 
tive of Ireland. He was converted to God in 1790, 
entered the ministry in 1802, and was appointed to 
Coleraine. He came to Newfoundland in 1804, where 
he labored with great success. In 1810, he returned to 
Ireland, and labored until 1834, when he was compelled 
by infirmity to become a supernumerary. 

Mr. Remmington was a " man of unquestionable pi- 
ety, of sterling uprightness, of great simplicity of man- 
ners, and enjoyed uninterrupted communion with God." 
He was a lover of music, and a good singer. He 
taught our people a number of old English tunes, and 
would enliven the prayer-meetings with some revival 
melody. In a manner truly enchanting, he would sing 
that now almost obsolete hymn : — 

" Come, saints and sinners, hear me tell 
The wonders of Immanuel ; 
Who saved me from a burning hell, 
And brought my soul with him to dwell, 
And gave me heavenly union," 

He extended our missions to the Harbor of Trinity, 
where for many years his name was a household word, 
and, in the hearts of all who knew him, his memory 
was imperishable. No man ever left the shores of New- 
foundland more deeply regretted than was John Rem-. 
mington. He sailed from Trinity at midnight, and 
that evening was a sorrowful vigil with his friends. 
Just as he was about to leave the house, amidst the 
tears and sobs of many, he sung : — 

" Here's my heart and hei-e's my hand, 
To meet you in that heavenly land, 
Where we shall part no more." . 



SAMUEL MCDOWELL AND WILLIAM ELLIS. 181 

He died, Nov. 11, 1838, in the six1y-sixth year of 
his a^-e, and the fortieth of his ministry. 

A httle before his death, he said to his family, " Oh, 
be a family of prayer ! Come, come, I want you all 
in heaven." His sorrowing wife replied, " You will 
soon have the victory." She inquired, " Is the Saviour 
precious ? " " Yes," said he, '' very, very precious." 
His last words were, " Farewell, all is well ! " 

In 1808, three missionaries appear in the minutes, — 
John Remmington, William Ellis, Samuel McDowell, 
— all Irishmen, and noble and faithful men. 

Mr. McDowell labored six years in diflPerent parts of 
the island to the north of St. Johns. He w^as a na- 
tive of Dromore, and was born in 1780. He w^as 
brought to God in early youth, entered the ministry in 
1808, and was appointed to Newfoundland. He was a 
kind man, and had an untiring zeal in the cause of his 
Maker. His ministerial talents w^ere very respectable, 
but he shrank from everything like popularity. He 
was res})ected and beloved by all who knew him. He 
spent six years on this mission, when, his health becom- 
ing somewhat impaired, he went to England, and 
spent one year in the Ipswich Circuit, after which he 
returned to his native land, and labored many years as 
an Irish missionary. He became a supernumerary in 
1848, and died in August, 1855, in the seventy-sixth 
year of his age and forty-eighth of his ministry. 

William Ellis was the other colleague of Mr. 
Remmington. With this excellent missionary, the 
writer w^as well acquainted, and was his fellow-laborer 
for fourteen years. 

Mr. Ellis was born in the County Down, in the 
North of Ireland, in 1780 ; and was converted to God 
in the sixteenth year of his age. When about eighteen, 

'l6 



182 K'EWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

the Irish Rebellion broke out, and to some of its fearful 
scenes he was an eye-witness. At the battle of Bally- 
nahinch, his parents, with all the famil}', had to leave 
their house, and hide themselves in the field as best 
they could, where the crying of one of the children ex- 
posed the place of their concealment, and, but for the 
timely arrival of the trooj^s, they would have been mas- 
sacred. The providence of God preserved him in the 
midst of danger. He afterward filled several impor- 
tant positions in the church in his native land, — in par- 
ticular, those of a class-leader, and a local preacher. 
He came to Newfoundland as a missionary, in 1808, 
where he spent all his remaining life, which was twenty- 
nine years, in preaching the word of life and salvation. 
He was a kind and amiable man, of good natural abil- 
ities, and very eloquent as a speaker : he was faithful, 
laborious, and successful in his w^ork, and continued to 
labor until wdthin a few months of his decease. He 
died in peace, at Harbor Grace, Sept. 21st, 1837. This 
was the first missionary who died on the island, although 
it was then seventy-two years since Mr. Coughlan came 
to Harbor Grace. 

In 1810, William Ward was appointed to assist 
the brethren Ellis and McDowell, and was stationed 
at Bonavista, — the first missionary ever stationed there. 
Two years after, on making a passage to St. Johns 
in a fishing-boat, he was drowned, as were all the 
boat's crew. 

Sampson Busby was ordained by Dr. Coke, and 
came to Newfoundland in 1813. Carbonear was his 
chief station, where he continued three years ; and, in 
1816, he removed to Prince Edward Island. He was 
afterward stationed in Nova Scotia, and spent twenty- 
nine years of his useful life in some of the most impor- 



WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 183 

tant circuits in that Province and New Brunswick. 
He died, Marcli 31st, 1850, in the sixty-first year of his 
age and the thirty-eighth of his ministry. In his 
last ilhiess, lie was sustained by the presence and grace 
of God, and was enabled to rejoice in that " perfect 
love " which " casteth out fear." The name of Samp- 
son Busby was long cherished in Carbonear ; and the 
name of his excellent wife ought not to be forgotten. 
She it was who commenced the first female school in 
that part of the island. When she arrived, it could 
scarcely be said there was a school of any kind either in 
Harbor Grace or Carbonear, or anywhere on the North 
Shore ; and if any respectable person wished to give 
their children an education, they were obliged to send 
them to England. Mrs. Busby was an accomplished 
and deeply pious lady. She opened a school for young 
ladies, which was numerously attended, and thereby 
gave the impetus to female education in Carbonear now 
so generally observed by the inhabitants of that impor- 
tant town. 

The year 1813 was when the Wesleyan Method- 
ist Missionary Society received its present form and 
constitution. Not that the Wesleyan Church then for 
the first time sent missionaries abroad, to preach in dis- 
tant lands the same great truths which had produced 
such mighty effects in every part of the United King- 
dom ; for it will be seen, from the preceding pages, that 
she had done this near fifty years before : or, to speak 
more correctly, it was then forty-eight years since 
Lawrence Coughlan had commenced his mission in 
Newfoundland, In 1769, two missionaries were sent 
to America ; and, in 1785, Newfoundland was regularly 
entered upon the minutes ; and also the West Indian 
mission then commenced. And this last date (1785) 



184 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

was earlier, by several years, than any other evangelical 
church in England entered the mission field. Daring 
these years, Mr. Wesley and the conference had fos- 
tered the missionary spirit, and had sustained and ex- 
tended their missions to the utmost of their means. 
But hitherto the labors of the missionaries had been 
desultory, the management of the missions informal, 
and the Wesleyan Church, as well as the evangelical 
church in general, was only very partially imbued with 
true missionary zeal. A different feeling was to influ- 
ence the church ; a difl^erent state of things was to exist ; 
Christian liberality was soon to develop itself to an ex- 
tent that would silence gainsayers and infidels ; and 
British Christian missions, instead of being local in 
their efforts, or limited to the provinces of the empire, 
were to expand in every direction, until the gospel of 
the Redeemer should be preached in every nation upon 
earth. 

In 1785, our mission stations were only Nova Scotia, 
Newfoundland, and Antigua ; our missionaries only 
four, and they stood thus : — 

Nova Scotia — Freeborn Garrettson. 
Newfoundland — John McGeary 
Antigua — J. Baxter, J. Lambert. 

Our membership : — 

Nova Scotia, including Newfoundland, .... 300 

Antigua, Whites 8 

Blacks 1,100 



Total .... 1,408 

The supervision of these missions was not then a 
very difficult task ; but it was very difficult to raise 
the small pecuniary means for their support. Both 
these duties were cheerfully undertaken by Dr. Coke. 



DR. COKE. 185 

He was treasurer, secretary, and collector, and made 
his report viva voce. He begged the money from be- 
nevolent persons who felt an interest in the mission 
cause ; and among these first contributors were sev- 
eral peers of the realm, ladies of rank, and Episcopal 
clergymen.^ 

In 1793, the doctor presented his first written state- 
ment to the conference. It was the receipts and dis- 
bursements of six years, from August, 1787, to August, 
1793. The largest amount in any one of these years was 
£ 1,167 12s. Qd. ; and the smallest was only £ 339 
15s. ; this was in the year 1790. When the account 
was presented, a balance was due to the doctor of 
£ 2,167 17s. 2d. ; when, with his noble Christian be- 
nevolence, he said, '" The large balance due to me will 
never again be brought into account ; it is my subscrip- 
tion to this great work.^^ 

On the reading of this report, the following question 
was asked in conference : — 

" Quest. 36. The fund for the support of the missions in the 
West Indies being exhausted, yea, considerably in debt, what 
can be done for its relief ? 

" Ans. a general collection shall be made for the missions, in 
our congregations, for this year." 

■ During eight years, mostly by the unwearied efforts 
of the doctor, our mission stations were increased from 

1 " Among the pious and benevolent, the names of Whitbread,WiIberforce, 
and the Thorntons are invariably found, together with the Right Hon. 
the Earl of Dartmouth, Lord Elliot, Earl of Belvidere, Lady Mary Fitz- 
gerald, Lady Maxwell, Sir Charles Middleton, afterward Lord Barham, 
Sir Richard Hill, Sir John Carter, Sir William Forbes, Lady Smythe, Hon. 
Mrs. Carteret, and the Hon. Mrs. Bouverie. Of the clerg}' who aided the 
doctor, were Rev. Mr. Dodwell of Lincolnshire, Melville Home of Madeley, 
Berridge of Everton, Abdy of Horsleydoun, Dr. Gillis of Glasgow, Simp- 
son of i\Iacclesfield, Pentycross of Wallingford, Easterbrook of Bristol, Ken- 
nedy of Teston, &c." — Methodist Magazine, 1844, p. 222. 
16 * 



186 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

three to thirteen, onr missionaries from four to twenty- 
two, and our missionary membership from 1,408 to 
7,840. 

At tlie conference of 1797, the foreign missions 
were ao;ain directed to be brouo-ht to the notice of our 
people, by one of its miscellaneous regulations. 

" V. Concerning the West Indies. 

" 1. Let a collection be made in the course of this year, for 
the support of the missionaries, in every congregation where it is 
practicable. 

'' 2. The district committees, in the month of May, are to in- 
quire, Avhether any preacher is willing to go to the West Indies ; 
and the chairmen of those districts, in which any preacher offers 
himself, are to inform Dr. Coke of it before the meeting of the 
Irish Conference." 

There is no published statement of the amount of 
missionary collections as the result of these special 
applications ; but the appeal for missionaries was nobly 
responded to ; for our men in the West Indies were 
increased next year from fourteen to twenty-two. 

These were times of great trouble and suffering 
throuo;hout both Eno;land and Ireland. The French 
war then raged fearfully ; commerce was seriously af- 
fected by the war ; a short harvest caused a famine to a 
great extent ; England was threatened with a French 
invasion ; and Ireland was in a state of rebellion* 
But in the midst of all, the mission cause was not for- 
gotten ; for at the conference of 1798 it was asked: — 

" Quest. What can be done for the support of our foreign 
missions ? 

'' Ans. Dr. Coke is desired to make private collections, as far 
as possible, among our societies and among strangers, for the mis- 
sions, and the preachers are to assist him in this business ; and in 
those societies which the doctor cannot visit, the preachers are to 
do what they can by private applications for this purpose. And 



WEST INDIA MISSIONS. 187 

this is to be considered as a substitute for a public collection, on 
account of the temporal circumstances of our connection." 

The next year, 1799, recourse was again had to 
pubhc collections ; and the mission work, which had 
hitherto been solely under the control of Dr. Coke, 
the conference now took under its own direction, and 
appointed the doctor its agent. We quote the min- 
utes on this subject : — 

" Quest. 44. Are there any further directions or regulations 
in respect to the West India missions ? 

" Ans. 1. We, in the fullest manner, take those missions under 
our own care, and consider Dr. Coke as our agent. 

" 2. We agree, that a general collection be made, as soon as 
possible, in all our Sunday congregations in Great Britain, for that 
blessed work. 

" N. B. The collections are to be sent up to London, and lodged 
in the hands of Brother Whitefield." 

George Whitefield, our book steward for that year, 
was the first missionary treasurer in the connection. 

In 1802, the first general instructions were issued to 
the West Indian missionaries, by which were arranged 
their time and service in that Archipelago, which was 
as follows : — 

" 1. That preachers who had been previously in full connec- 
tion should remain four years. 

" 2. Preachers who had travelled on trial in Europe should 
remain five years. 

" 3. Preachers who had not travelled at all in Europe should 
remain six years." 

In 1804, Dr. Coke was " re-appointed to the office of 
general superintendent of all our missions." 2. " A 
committee of finance and advice is appointed, con- 
sisting of all the preachers stationed in London." 
3. " Dr. Coke is appointed president of this com- 
mittee, Mr. Entwirle the secretary, and Mr. Lomas 



188 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

the treasurer." This was the first missionary com- 
mittee. 

Thus far missionary collections were only occasion- 
ally taken ; and donations only occasionally solicited ; 
but in 1805, a more systematic method was adopted to 
raise pecuniary means. At this conference it was 

" Resolved, Let annual subscriptions be taken in by the gene- 
ral superintendent of the missions, or the superintendents of 
the circuits. 

" 2. Let the collection, which has been frequently made for 
their support in our congregations, in town and country, be an- 
nual." 

This was the first movement to raise a regular in- 
come for missionary purposes. 

A few more entries in reference to foreio;n missions 
are found on the pages of our minutes ; but nothing 
is recorded there calculated to awaken a dormant spirit 
of the connection to its duty, as to the important part 
it was designed to take in giving the gospel of salva- 
tion to the world, until the year 1813. At that time 
our number of mission stations, exclusive of Ireland, was 
twenty-two. We had twenty-seven missionaries in the 
West Indies and Bermuda, thirteen in Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick, and three in Newfoundland, — 
total number of missionaries forty-three ; and our 
missionary memberships sixteen thousand seven hun- 
dred and forty-two. So that our increase from 1791, 
the time Mr. Wesley died, a period of twenty-two 
years, was only twenty-three missionaries and ten 
thousand two hundred and seventeen members. 

The year 1813 will be fimous in all time to^ome, 
in all Wesleyan annals, by whomsoever written : — 
1. As the time when the important mission to India 
was inaugurated. 2. Because the Wesleyan church 
then became missionary in earnest. 



METHODISM IN INDIA. 189 

As early as the year 1781, Dr. Coke had looked up- 
on India with deep interest, and desired to occupy it 
as a mighty field for missionary enterprise. But In- 
dia was then hermetically sealed against all efforts to 
Christianize her teeming millions. 

o 

Great Britain seems, in the order of Divine Provi- 
dence, raised to her present high position among the 
nations, to destroy slavery everywhere, and to carry 
liberty, knowledge, civilization, and evangelical truth 
to every nation under heaven. But in India, for many 
years, she was recreant to her trust. 

After a series of brilliant conquests, on the twenty- 
third of June, 1757, occurred the battle of Plassy, by 
which the whole Peninsula of India was placed under 
British control, and the standard of our empire waved 
over every fortress of that vast country. 

But, strange, we assumed the government there as a 
nation of Atheists ! We ignored Christianity, and 
professed no religion at all. We dallied with and we 
fondled and nursed every system of idolatry and crime, 
by which the people had been enslaved and cursed for 
three thousand years. And so determined were the 
East India Company, who then held the reins of gov- 
ernment, that Christianity should not be known there, 
that when Robert and James Haldane, two Scotch 
gentlemen of fortune, offered to establish a mission at 
Benares, which is the " Maynooth " of India, at a cost 
of £ 10,000 sterling, the offer was insultingly refused ; 
and one of the directors of the East India Company 
is reported to have said : '' I would rather see a band 
of devils land in India than a band of missionaries." 

The doctor's plan for the conversion of India, there- 
fore, of necessity stood for several years in abeyance. 
But he never lost sight of this great object. He con- 



190 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

stantly mentioned it to his friends ; and year after year 
he earnestly sought the sanction of the conference 
for this philanthropic measure. In the year 1813, he 
was president of the Irish Conference. He brought 
his plan before that conference, and asked for its offi- 
cial sanction. It was voted with enthusiasm. He 
next appeared before the British Conference, to plead 
for India. Some of the brethren opposed his plan, 
when he burst into tears, and exclaimed : " If you 
will not let me go to India you will break my heart." 
The brethren now withdrew their opposition, and six 
missionaries were appointed to accompany him to 
India, and one was to be left at the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

The doctor and his missionary band left the British 
shores in the month of January, 1814 ; but he died in 
his cabin, on the night of May 2d, when the ship 
was within eighteen days' sail of Bombay, where she 
was bound. The brother of the writer was on board 
the ship Cabalva at the time, and assisted in lowering 
the body of the doctor into the sea. 

While Dr. Coke lived, the responsibility of the mis- 
sions mostly rested on him. The great part of the 
missionary subscriptions and collections was raised by 
his eflPort, and he supplied large sums, sometimes to 
the extent of <£ 1,800 or £ 2,000, from his own pri- 
vate purse. Now that he was taken away, many 
thought the missionary work would soon come to an 
end. But not so ; " God can bury his workmen and 
still carry on his work." Thus it was in this instance. 

FORMATION OF THE WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY. 

As soon as the conference of 1813 was over, and 



WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 191 

some months before the doctor left England, some of 
its members began to feel that the responsibility of pro- 
viding the means, as well as the men, must be thrown 
upon the church ; and that some new and more pro- 
ductive plan for raising funds for missionaiy purposes 
must be adopted. That year Jabez Bunting was chair- 
man of the Leeds District, and there were associated 
with him in that field of labor, besides several eminent 
men, George Morley, James Buckley, and Richard 
Watson. 

The Rev. George Morley was the Superintendent of 
the Leeds Circuit ; and when he returned from confer- 
ence, the stewards waited upon him, to mention a fact 
that had occurred during his absence, and to ask his judg- 
ment respecting it. The fact was this : some of the 
agents of the London Missionary Society had adopted 
a weekly subscription, like our class money, to raise 
funds for their missionary society, and had requested 
several of our class-leaders to accept collecting-books 
for that pui-pose. Mr. Morley pondered over this cir- 
cumstance. It struck him, '' this is the very thing 
that is wanted in the Methodist connection ; and such 
weekly contributions would form a valuable source of 
income to our mission fund." He thought, however, 
that the raising of such contributions should not be 
confined to members of the church, but that missionary 
collectors should be employed to solicit from benevolent 
persons subscriptions either weekly, monthly, quarterly, 
or annual ; and that public meetings should be held, 
at which missionary information should be given, and 
the claims of the missionary enterprise set forth both 
by ministers and laymen. 

He consulted his chairman and colleague, the Rev. 
Jabez Bunting, whose comprehensive mind at once saw 



192 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

tlie Immense advantage of such a measure. After far- 
ther consultation with the ministers and several intelli- 
gent laymen, it was determined to call a public meeting, 
in order to carry the plan into effect. The meeting 
was appointed for half past two o'clock, on the 6th of 
October, in the old chapel at Leeds. A preparatory 
missionary sermon was preached on Tuesday evening, 
Oct. 5th, at ArmlQy, in the Bramley Circuit, by the 
Rev. James Buckley, from Isaiah Iv. 10, 11, and the 
services of that important day, Oct. 6th, 1813, were 
commenced by a most solemn prayer-meeting, held at 
six o'clock in the morning, in the old chapel. At half 
past ten o'clock in the forenoon, the Rev. Richard Wat- 
son preached his memorable and never to be forgotten 
sermon on the " dry bones," Ezek., chap, xxxvii. 9, 
" Come from the four w'inds, O breath, and breathe 
upon the slain, that they may live." The sermon was 
delivered with great power, with much pathos, and 
with a persuasive eloquence that deeply affected his 
whole audience. Of the heathen in general, he re- 
marked : — 

" The heathen have turned the truth of God into a lie. Tlieir 
religious opinions are absurd fables ; and the principles of morali- 
ty being left without support, have all been borne down by the tide 
of sensual appetite and ungoverned passion. Ignorance the most 
profound, imaginations the most extravagant, and crimes the most 
daring, have ever characterized the world which lies in the power 
of the wicked one." 

Of Asia, where Dr. Coke was now going, he said : — 

" If we turn to the East, there the peopled valleys of Asia stretch 
before us ; but peopled with whom ? With the dead. That quar- 
ter of the earth alone presents five hundred millions of souls, with 
but few exceptions, without a God, save gods that sanction vice ; 
without a sacrifice, save sacrifices of folly and blood ; without a 
priest, except a race of jugglers, impostors, and murderers ; without 



WESLEY A Is MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 193 

holy days, except such as debase by their levity, corrupt by their 
sensuality, or harden by their cruelty." 

At the time mentioned, half past two o'clock, the 
pubhc meeting was held. The meeting was large, and 
the gallery was wholly occupied with ladies. The res- 
olutions passed at that meeting were the basis upon 
which "TheWesleyan Methodist Missionary Society'' 
was afterward formed ; a society which, during fifty 
years of its existence, has sent many hundreds of mis- 
sionaries to labor in distant lands ; has collected and ex- 
pended many hundreds of thousands of pounds in 
spreading the gospel ; has been instrumental in saving 
hundreds of thousands of souls ; and, at this day, is 
one of the most important and most extensive mission- 
ary organizations upon the face of the earth. 

The benefit of this organization was soon felt, both at 
home and abroad ; at home, by the increase of the true 
missionary spirit and the augmentation of funds ; 
abroad, by the addition to our missionary staff, and the 
extension and influence of our missionary churches. 
In Newfoundland, down to this time, our missionaries 
were without any fixed abode, or fixed salary. They 
itinerated up and down the north shore of Conception 
Bay, receiving what the people thought proper to give 
them, and drawing for their remaining necessities upon 
Dr. Coke, or upon their kind friends in England, who 
deeply and constantly felt for the long neglected inhab- 
itants of that rock-bound island. But this irregularity 
was now soon terminated by organizing the missions into 
a district, forming circuits in that district, and originat- 
ing a plan of finance and expenditure. We shall, there- 
fore, from tliis time, have to speak of the missions in 
Newfoundland by the Methodist phrase, " The New- 
foundland District." 
17 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT — PLAN FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE 
MISSIONS — BAY CIRCUITS — GREAT FIRE — BOSTON CITIZENS — 
BONA VISTA CIRCUIT — PERSECUTION — THE FISHERY — THE WINTER 
SEASON. 

BY the conference of 1815, the missions of New- 
foundland were formed into a district, and stand 
thus on the minutes : — 

Carbonear, — Sampson Busby, 

Blackhead, — William Ellis, 

Port de Grave, — John Pickavant, 

Island Cove, — John LeAvis, Sen., 

St. Johns, — Thomas Hickson, 

Bona VISTA, — James Hickson, 

William Ellis, Chairman of the District. 

This year the conference gave a plan for the man- 
agement of our missions, the substance of which 
was : — 

" That the missions and missionaries shall be superintended, dur- 
ing the intervals of the sittings of the conference, by an " Execu- 
tive Committee. 

" The spiritual concerns of the missions shall be under the ex- 
clusive superintendence of the conference. 

" A general report of the state of our missions shall be annually 
prepared by the Executive Committee, and, if approved, shall be 
published and circulated." 

In the year 1818 this plan was fully matured ; our 
missionary society was organized ; and the " Laws and 
regulations of the General Wesleyan Methodist Mis- 
sionary Society," as they appear in our '' Annual Mis- 
sionary Report," were enacted by the conference. 

(194) 



NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT. ^ 195 

Carbonear, Blackhead, Port De Grave, and Island 
Cove are situated on the north shore of Conception 
Bay, and are the places where our earliest missionaries 
labored, and v^here the inhabitants generally had never 
heard any other than Methodist preaching ; so that they 
almost considered Methodism the " established reli- 
gion ; " and, whether they were " born again " or not, 
would often say, " I was born a Methodist." The only 
opposition our missionaries met with here was the de- 
pravity of the human heart, which, by the grace of 
God, was frequently overcome, for very many went to 
heaven who had been converted on the north shore. 

These circuits had all to be travelled on foot, as there 
were few horses, and no roads ; and the houses being all 
built by the sea-shore, and around the different coves 
and harbors, the paths were of necessity rugged, diffi- 
cult, and laborious. And how dexterously he ascended 
the " sculpin highlands," climbed up Job's Cove 
Droke, toiled through the sands at Northern Bay, 
waded the Northern Gut, or plodded through Short's 
Marsh, would furnish a theme for conversation to the 
weary traveller, as he sat by the cheerful evening fire, 
and partook of the kind hospitalities of these proverbi- 
ally hospitable people. 

St. Johns now, for the first time, appears on our list 
of stations. For several years after our mission was 
commenced in the bay, we had but little interest in the 
capital, and the missionaries could only pay it an occa- 
sional visit. But some of our people, who had resided 
in Harbor Grace, removed to St. Johns, and among 
them we might mention Messrs. Jonathan Parsons, 
William Freeman, and James Lilly ; also Mr. Mark 
Coxen, who had been in the army, and had heard 
Methodist preaching in different places, and Mr. James 



196 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONAlllES. 

Bailey, who had been a member of our society in Eng- 
land. 

The only two Protestant places of worship were the 
Episcopal church, where no pretensions were made to 
teach experimental religion, and a Congregational 
church, where the teaching was ultra Calvinistic. Such 
theology did not suit the httle Wesleyan band there. 
They, therefore, invited the preachers from the bay, 
wlio, on coming to St. Johns, were received with much 
kindness, and preached with much success. 

St. Johns is the fifth place on this station sheet, be- 
cause that w^as its Methodistic " status " at that time. 
Our people this year put up a neat, substantial chapel, 
and our cause seemed likely to prosper in the metropo- 
lis. In the town, during the autumn, everything ap- 
peared encouraging ; trade was brisk, money was 
plenty, provisions in abundance, and all anticipated a 
pleasant winter. How vain are our hopes of happi- 
ness when built on earthly things I 

In the month of February a fire broke out, which 
speedily laid two-thirds of the town in ashes. It raged 
from River Head, which is the upper part of the 
harbor, to Magotty Cove, destroying private build- 
ings, shops, merchants' stores filled with provisions, 
wharves, some ships, the custom-house and court- 
house, and our own chapel, not yet completely fin- 
ished. By this dreadful conflagration hundreds of peo- 
ple were turned into the street, houseless and penniless, 
where they erected sheds, or raised canvas tents, and 
dwelt there for the remainder of that severe winter, 
until the sun's return toward the summer solstice 
should enable the ships from Britain to bring their 
*' spring supplies," and cause the fish to return to the 
shore to give employment and food to the starving mul- 
titude. 



nOSTON CITIZENS. 197 

We here mention with very great pleasure the be- 
nevol'ence and crreat Christian kindness of our Ameri- 
can friends in the city of Boston, in aftbrding prompt 
rehef to the sufferers in St. Johns, but for which rehef 
many persons must have died. In those days there 
were not only no steamers, but there was no post-office 
or regular mail from St. Johns to any part of the 
world. Letters were sent by private conveyance, or 
given to captains of vessels, who charged " a postage," 
and sometimes a heavy one. The writer has often paid 
35. Qd. sterling — 82^ cents — for a letter from Eng- 
land. 

To let their distress be known, and to bring a Httle 
relief, the merchants of St. Johns despatched a private 
vessel to Boston ; and as soon as the news of this awful 
calamity had spread in that city, a public meeting was 
called, a vessel was chartered and loaded with provis- 
ions and clothing, a crew of men nobly volunteered to 
navigate the vessel, at that dangerous season, to the 
rocky shores of the sea-girt island, to carry this splen- 
did donation to those who were perishing from hunger 
and from cold. A kind Providence safely brought the 
ship into the harbor, where her entire cargo of provis- 
ions, clothing and blankets, were distributed gratui- 
tously. 

Many of the citizens of Boston, who gave their con- 
tributions to the sufferers by fire in St. Johns, in Feb- 
ruary, 1816, aro now gone the " way of all the 
earth ; " yet their kindness is not forgotten, and we 
would say, all honor be to their memory. There 
were two other severe fires in St. Johns, which followed 
this great conflagration, by which the town was almost 
ruined, and it was several years before it recovered its 
former prosperity. 

17* 



19S ^NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

In the summer of 1816, Mr. Pickavant went to Ens:- 
land to beg for means to rebuild our chapel in St. 
Jolnis, which the losses our people had sustained by 
the fires rendered impossible for them to accomplish 
unassisted. 

Near the time of the " great fire " in St, Johns, a 
new chapel, nearly finished in Carbonear, was also 
accidentally destroyed by fire. Mr. Pickavant, tliere- 
fore, included both cases in his appeals to the British 
public. When he arrived in England, the Rev. 
George Smith, who, as we have seen, was formerly a 
missionary in Newfoundland, rendered great assistance 
to Mr. Pickavant in soliciting subscriptions for this 
important object. 

Our Missionary Committee, in their first annual 
report (1816), which is entitled, " The Report of the 
Executive Committee for the Management of the Mis- 
sions," thus speaks of-this matter : — 

" The destruction of the newly erected chapel at St. Johns, by 
fire, in February last, was an event which not only left the con- 
gregation without a place of worship, but the trustees charged 
with a debt of £500, which remained on the premises, after a very 
liberal subscription among the inhabitants had been made. This 
calamity excited the compassion of many persons in this country 
to contribute toward the re-erection of the chapel, and as the 
sum already obtained is still greatly inadequate, should any benev- 
olent persons wish to assist a poor but pious people to rebuild their 
(!hapel, the committee will gladly receive any sums for that spe- 
cific purpose." 

The result of this appeal was a noble subscription 
from the English people of <£ 2,017 5s. 7c?. 

The committee, in their report for 1819, make this 
statement : — 

" The chapels in St. Johns and Carbonear, formerly burnt 
down, have been rebuilt, chiefly by the kind sympathy and exer- 



BON AVISTA CIRCUIT. 199 

tions of the friends in England, who, in collections made for this 
purpose by Mr. Pickavant and Mr. G. Smith, contributed the sum 
of £2,017 OS. Id." 

A portion of this sum was paid to Carbonear, but the 
greater portion was paid to St. Johns ; and by the help 
of these moneys the friends in both these towns were 
enabled to rebuild their sanctuaries, and also to erect 
substantial residences for the ministers who from time 
to time should be stationed amongst them. Since those 
times, God has blessed our people with much temporal 
prosperity, by which they have been enabled for many 
years to pay their ministers handsomely and contribute 
to the missionary cause, and to all other Christian and 
benevolent- objects to which they are invited. 

Bonavista is last on this list of stations. The dis- 
tance of this place from St. Johns is about one hundred 
miles. In consequence of the distance of Bonavista 
from Conception Bay, and the paucity of mission- 
aries, it was impossible to visit it, except occasionally. 
Our little church there, however, had been kept together 
by the faithful labors of two local brethren, Messrs. 
Saint and Cole, who in turn preached every Sabbath, 
and met the classes ; but the appointment of a regular 
missionary to the Harbor was hailed by our people 
with great delight. 

The population of Bonavista was estimated at about 
fifteen hundred souls, of whom three-fourths were Prot- 
estants ; and the Episcopalians and Wesleyans were 
the only religious bodies among the Protestants. 

The Episcopalians at that time never had a minister 
stationed among them ; but they had a layman, who had 
formerly been a fisherman, authorized to read prayers 
on the Sabbath. He also baptized the children, and 
married the people. 



200 NEAVFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

As all the Protestants had been Churchmen, the in- 
troduction of Methodism was first looked upon with 
contempt ; then it was opposed, and afterward perse- 
cuted as far as the parties had the means. Opposition 
began most undisguisedly to show itself when a Wes- 
leyan church was about to be erected, and a Wesleyan 
missionary stationed in the place.. Our people, intent 
upon their object, braved all opposition, and put up 
their church, when the first open act of persecution 
occurred. It was in reference to the flag-staff placed in 
front of the building. The reader must be informed 
that, as there were no bells in the out-harbors, the sig- 
nal for divine service was to haul up a flag in the front 
of the church, one hour before service began ; drop it 
half-mast at the end of thirty minutes, and haul it 
down as the minister entered. As the Wesleyan 
church was nearly opposite to the Episcopal church, 
the officials of the latter intimated that it would be 
considered a gross insult, if the Methodists should dare 
to hoist a flag in the presence of their Episcopalian 
brethren ; and that such an audacious act should not 
be permitted. No notice was taken of this kind of 
talk, and when the church was fit for occupancy, our 
people proceeded to erect a flag-staff". The worthy 
macristrate, who was a zealous son of the Church, 
thought this was too bad, and he must put forth all his 
power and authority to prevent such an outrage. 
Was it not as much his business to stop the progress of 
Methodism as to keep the king's peace ? Believing this 
to be his duty, he came over to the mission ground, and 
with much emphasis demanded : — 

" What are you Methodists doing there ? " 

Ans. " We are putting up a flag-staff." 

Magistrate. " What do you want of a flag-staff there ? " 

Ans. " To hoist a flag as a signal for divine service." 



PERSECUTION. 201 

Mag. " What, directly opposite the church V " 

Ans. " We are not aware that we are doing any wrong." 

Mag. " I tell you it shall not be, and I forbid it." 

Ans, " We think you have no right to interfere with us, and 

we shall not regard your prohibition." 

Mag. " Well, I will allow you to hoist your flag on any day 

but Sunday." 

Ans. " That is the day on which we intend to hoist our flag." ' 
Mag. " If you dare to hoist your flag on next Sunday, I will 

certainly cut it down." 

The Sabbath came, and, regardless of his worship, 
the flag was raised at the appointed hour. As soon as 
our justice heard that the Methodist flag was up, he 
came in great wrath to punish such manifest contumacy. 
He was accompanied by his son Jared, who was con- 
stable, and who brought an axe to cut down the obnox- 
ious flag-staflP. Considerably excited, and a little out 
of breath, he said to the people who were now assem- 
bhng for worship : — 

" Did I not forbid your hoisting your flag on Sunday ? " 

Ans. " You did ; but we have not regarded your order, in this 
case, as we thought you had no right to interfere with us." 

Mag. " I will let yoLi Methodists know that I have power, and 
I will cut down the pole." Calling to his son, he said, "Jared, 
cut down that flag-staff"." The axe was raised, but ere the blow 
impinged the wood, Mr. Saint said, " Sir, take care what you do, 
for I have taken advice, and find we have done nothing wrong. It 
you will 'dare ' to cut down the pole, I will give five pounds." At 
the sound of the word " advice" his worship was startled, and in- 
stantly called to his son to "stop ;" and then addressing the peo- 
ple who were now assembled in considerable numbers, he said, 
" I will not cut down your flag to-day ; but mind you never 
raise it again on Sunday." 

His worship retired amidst the jeers of the people, 
and himself afterward taking " advice," he ascertained 
that he had gone too far, and therefore left the Method- 
ists to hoist their flag whenever they thought proper. 
17 * 



202 ^NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The strange conduct and persecuting spirit of this 
Bonavista magistrate were afterwards satirized in a piece 
of poetry, from which w^e extract the following : — 

" Some few years ago, to our harbor there came 
Some preachers from England ; they're Methodists by name; 
They opposed our whole conduct, and said, ' Ye are wrong ; 

* Repent, or ye'll perish,' was the theme of their song. 

A chapel and flag-staff they soon did erect. 
Though 'gainst Bonavist law it was levelled direct ; 
' I'll cut down your flag-staff,' said one then in power, 

* If you raise up your flag at the specified hour." 

This petty persecution did Methodism no harm, and 
tlie labors of Brother James Hickson were greatly 
blessed. Our church was quickened and consolidated, 
and it has continued to prosper ever since. Other per- 
secution, however, our people afterward had to experi- 
ence, which shall be related in proper time. 

As the Cod Fishery was almost the only occupa- 
tion in which the people of Newfoundland were en- 
gaged at the time of which we are now writing, the 
reader will not be displeased with the following ac- 
count of the manner in which that important business 
was conducted : — 

Arable spots are found all round the shores of New- 
foundland, which, when cleared of stone and cultivated, 
produce luxuriant grass and culinary vegetables, the 
latter unsurpassed for richness of taste by the produc- 
tions of tlie best cultivated gardens in Europe. Whole 
districts may be found to compensate the agriculturist 
for his toil and expense ; yet sterility is the character, 
and not the exception of the country at large ; but this 
sterility of soil is more than counterbalanced by its sub- 
marine wealth, gathered and brought to land by the 
skill and ceaseless industry of her hardy fishermen. 



THE FISHERY. ZOo 

As soon as stern winter has passed away, and the pow- 
erful influence of Sol's rays has loosened the icy fetters 
by which the streams were bound and the land was 
covered, prodigions shoals of fish come upon the coast 
to give food to the hungry, and replete the exhausted 
stores of the now anxious inhabitants. 

It was the large quantities of fish that excited the 
astonishment of the discoverers of the island. There 
is still extant a document published by Captain Hayes 
(the second in command to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who 
made a voyage to Newfoundland in the year 1583, in 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth), relating to the fish with 
which its waters abounded. I will give an extract from 
this curious document, or report, in the antique language 
and orthography in which it was written : — 

" Touching the commodities of tliis countrie, serving (answering) 
either for sustentation of inhabitants, or for maintenance of traf- 
fique, there may be diuers : so and it seemeth nature hath recom- 
pensed that only defect and incommoditie of some sharpe cold, by 
many benefits : viz., with incredible quantitie, and no less varietie 
of kinds of fish in the sea and fresh waters, as Trouts, Salmons, 
other fish to us unknown : Also Cod which alone draweth many 
nations thither, and is become the most famous fishing of the 
world. Abundance of whales, for which also is a very great trade 
in the bayes of Placentia, and the Grand Bay, where is made 
trane oils of the whale. Herring, the largest that have been heard 
of, exceeding the Alstrond herring of Norway : but hitherto was 
neuer benefit taken of the herring fishing. There are other fish 
very delicate, namely the Bonito, Lobsters, Turburt, with others 
infinite not sought after : Oysters hauing pearle, but not orient in 
colour : I took it by reason they were not gathered in season." 

The above was written near three hundred years 
ago, and with the exception of the " oysters having 
pearle," nearly the whole can still be predicated of the 
fish and fishery, on the coast and m the streams of 



204 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Newfoundland. Whales are often very numerous, but 
tlie whale fishery is not now prosecuted. In some parts 
herring, salmon, and mackerel fishing is carried on to 
a considerable extent ; but cod-fish is the staple of the 
country, and its fishery occupies almost the entire la- 
bor of the people. The systematic and universal prac- 
tice of the cod-fishery has necessarily produced three 
classes in society, — merchants, planters, and fishermen. 

The merchants of Newfoundland are a respectable 
and wealthy class of men. There are a number of 
small merchants, but the principals of the large firms 
mostly reside in England or Scotland, and have agents 
in one, sometimes in several parts of the island. Agen- 
cies of these large firms are also in different parts of 
the continent of Europe, as Hamburg, Oporto, Lisbon, 
Malaga, and other ports up the Mediterranean. The 
merchants' premises are called merchants' rooms, and 
are always by the water-side. Spacious wharves for 
landing goods extend sufficiently far for ships to lie 
alongside. On their wharves are fish stores, salt stores, 
and provision stores ; and at the head of wharves are 
dry goods' stores, all of which are generally well sup- 
plied. Connected with the merchants' room is a staff 
of clerks and mechanics, as coopers, carpenters, and 
blacksmiths, for very few of these reside at the fishing 
stations. 

The second class is the planters. The word planter 
at once conveys to the mind the idea of cultivation, 
and would lead the reader to suppose that planters wx^re 
farmers, or were in some way engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. But this is not the meaning of the word in 
this country. The word was applied, when America 
was discovered, to all settlements west of the Atlantic, 
which were called " plantations." The term " plant- 



THE FISHERY. 205 

er," in the Newfoundland vocabulary, means the owner 
of the fishing-room, who is himself a fisherman, and 
not a farmer. A few potatoes, but seldom sufficient 
for the use of his family during the year, was the whole 
amount of his plantation. 

The planters were not an educated body of men, in 
the times of which we are speaking ; there were bu 
few schools, and their constant employment in reference 
to the fishery rendered education very difficult for them 
to acquire. But their kindness cannot be excelled by 
any people upon the face of the earth . 

By the word fishing-room is meant the planter's 
premises, where the fish is made or cured. On the 
fishing-room is the fishing-stage. This is a long 
shed, built out sufficiently far in the water for the fish- 
ing-boats to lie at the stage-head. The stage is sup- 
ported by posts fixed in crevices of the rocks, against 
which the sea often beats, and sometimes with suffi- 
cient violence to throw down the buildino;. These 
stage-posts are of different lengths, but usually from 
ten to fifteen feet, and are braced with shorter posts or 
shores, which rest against the perpendiculars, at an an- 
gle of about forty-five degrees. Upon these posts are 
nailed the stage-poles horizontally, which are the only 
floor of the building. The sides are 'rough-boarded, 
and covered with rinds, or the bark of the spiTice-tree, 
procured as afterwards described. The length of the 
stage is sometimes fifty feet ; but it is shorter or longer 
according to circumstances. Five or six feet of the 
building near the water is left uncovered as a place to 
throw the fish from the boat. This space is called the 
stage-head. Entering the stage from the stage-head, 
we first see the splitting-table. This is usually on the 
right hand, as being most convenient for handHng the 

18 



206 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

fish. The sphttlng-table is that whereon the fish is 
spht and prepared for salting. It has a trunk-hole for 
dropping the lieads and offal of the fish into the sea; 
and a guUj throngh which to drop the liver, which 
forms the cod-oil, into a barrel placed under the table. 
Near the middle of the stao;e is a laro;e vat for washing; 
the fish after it has been sufficiently long in salt. At the 
upper end of the stage is the green fish, or fish under 
salt. Near this end of the stage is, also, " the water- 
horse," that is, the fish after it has been washed from 
the salt in the vat, and left to drain, preparatory to its 
being taken out of the stage to dry. 

We now leave the stage, and, passing an oil-house 
and a fish-house, a small house to keep the dry fish, we 
come to the fish-flake. This is a scaffolding more or 
Jess extensive, according to the business of the planter. 
The fishing-stages along the north shore are always re- 
moved in the fall, unless, perchance, the sea knocks 
them down and carries them away ; but the fish-flake 
remains durino; winter. The flake is from eig-ht to ten 
feet high, built like the stage, with perpendicular posts 
and shores. Upon these posts are laid the longers, 
which are slight poles at a few inches' distance from 
each other, and these longers are covered with spruce 
boughs, upon which the fish are laid to dry. The fish- 
ing-boats and all the apparatus for the fishery, as nets, 
hooks, lines, &c., are also the property of the planter. 

The third class are the fishermen. These are prop- 
el ly the laborers, and their ranks are supplied from the 
youngsters brought from Europe by the merchants. 
The merchants were accustomed, early in the spring, 
to bring a number of young men from England or Ire- 
land, who are engaged, or shipped in their native land 
for the fishery ; and the time for which they arc shipped 



THE FISHERY. 207 

is two summers and one winter. These young men, 
wlien tliey arrive, as are all strangers when they first 
land, are called youngsters. When they have spent 
one summer and one winter, they receive the title of 
white nose ; but when their full time of service is ex- 
pired, they receive tlie honorable appellation of oldsters. 

As soon as the frost is out of the ground in the 
spring, the planter does all his planting, which consists 
simply of putting a few potatoes in the ground. The 
manure used is mostly kelp, gathered from the sea- 
shore, and brought on men's backs, in bags. The pota- 
toes are planted in long beds, about four feet wide. 
They are put into the ground with a narrow spade ; 
trenches are dug on each side of the bed, and the earth 
thrown upon the seed. The remainder of cultivation, 
both of potatoes and the kitchen garden, is left to the 
women. 

This done, the planter, very early in the month of 
May, proceeds to ship both his boat's crew and his 
shore crew. He generally commands the boat himself, 
and his title is skipper. He requires two men with 
him. One is called midshipman, because his station is 
the middle of the boat ; the other man is called the 
fore-shipman, because his station is forward. The fore- 
shipman is sometimes called captain ; but the captain 
of a fishing-boat is the cook. The captain is frequently 
a youngster. 

The shore crew are mostly females. The planter's 
wife is generally skipper of the shore crew. If she 
has no daughters sufficient for the work, she hires or 
ships (for the same word is used) what help she may 
require. In the case of the girls, as well as the men, 
a written ao;reement is made which defines the work 
each person is to perform. This agreement is called 



208 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

the shipping-paper. Thus, one is shipped to tend table 
and cut tln-oats ; which means to put tlie fish on tlie 
fishinoi:-table from tlie stacre-head, and cut the throats of 
fish. Another female is shipped as splitter, and a third 
as Salter. These shipping-papers, after stating the work 
to be performed, usually close with this sentence, " And 
I am to do anything else for the good of the voyage." 

The crew shipped, the first thing is to " come in col- 
lar," that is, to commence the spring w^ork. It takes 
its name from part of the mooring of the boat, in the 
form of a horse-collar, which is passed over the stem of 
the boat, and holds her without an anchor. On com- 
ing in collar, the boat's crew go rinding. The warm 
sun in the month of May causes the sap of trees to 
flow, and forms a large quantity of cambium under 
the bark, by which it is easily removed from the 
tree. About the tenth of May, the rinding parties go 
into the woods and strip the rind or bark from the 
spruce-trees for about four feet of their height, tie it in 
bundles, and bnng it out on their backs (their only 
means of transport) to the fishing-room, where it is 
used for covering the fish when nearly dry, and also 
for coverino; their stages and small houses. 

Rinding being over, the}'- next rebuild their fishing- 
stages, and repair their flakes ; then go to the mer- 
chant's store for their spring supply. For the boat, is 
wanted canvas, cordage, hooks, lines, and small an- 
chors ; for the general purposes of the fishery, salt, 
nets, lines, twines, knives, pues, provisions, bread, 
wdiich always means sea-biscuit, flour, pork, butter, tea, 
and molasses. Thus prepared, the fishery commences 
about the middle of May. The first bait used is her- 
ring. These are taken in herring-nets ; but the cod 
has not yet struck in for the shore, and is therefore 



THE FISHERY. 209 

only taken in small quantities. About the first of June, 
the caplin strikes in, and then is the Newfoundland 
harvest. This small fish, about the size of a smelt, 
conies to the shore to spawn, follo.wed by the larger 
fish in the most inconceivable shoals. This is called 
the " caplin scull." The caplin is sometimes taken by 
hand with a dip-net ; at other times, it is hauled in a 
caplin seine. A certain number of men are appointed 
in each place, to attend the seine, and supply the boats 
with bait. The toil of the fisherman is now incessant, 
so that he is scarcely out of the boat for the whole 
week. 

Soon after twelve o'clock on Monday morning, he is 
away after bait, in order to be on the fishing-ground, 
wdiich is some leagues off", by the dawn of day. He 
continues fishing all day, and returns perhaps at sun- 
set with his put of fish, throws it upon the stage-head, 
and immediately leaves for bait, in order to get to the 
fishing-ground again by daylight on Tuesday morning ; 
brings in his second put in the evening, and so on 
throufich the week. The fisherman's clothes are sel- 
dom off, except on Saturday, and Sabbath evenings. 
I once heard a fisherman, on Friday evening, say, '' I 
will now pull off my boots, as I have not had them off 
since Monday morning." The caplin scull lasts for 
six weeks, and is followed by the squid scull. The 
squid comes upon the coast in the beginning of August, 
and continues until the middle of September. It is a 
small, round fish, about five or six inches long. Its 
color is a cri'eenish-red, and it is luminous in the dark. 
It has from eight to ten arms or suckers, by which it 
fastens itself to different substances, and with which it 
grasps its prey. It also has a bag, containing an ink-like 
matter, which is its means of defence. It ejects this 



210 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

black liquid when pursued. Some writers call it the 
ink-fish. The squid is taken by jigging, and is the 
best bait after the caplin. With the departure of the 
squid, the fishery begins to lag ; but another small fish, 
called the lance, supplies bait for a short time longer. 

Let us now look at the labor of the " shore-crew," 
and we shall see that the labor of the females is quite 
as incessant, and even more exhaustino;, than the labor 
of the men. When the men have thrown the fish 
upon the stage-head, it is put upon the splitting-table, 
by one of the females, with a pue. The pue is an in- 
strument having a long handle like a hay-fork, with on- 
ly one prong, which is fixed in the centre of the stick. 
This prong is stuck in the head of the fish, and thus, 
with great ease and rapidity, it is thrown from the boat to 
the stage-head, and from thence to the table. The throat 
is now cut, and the lish passed to another female, who 
pulls off the head and the offal, drops it through the 
trunk-hole into the water ; takes out the liver, and 
drops that into the gully ; then pushes the fish across 
the table to the splitter, who, with one stroke of her 
knife, takes out the sound-bone, and drops it into the 
water, and slides the fish into a drudge-barrow. The 
women at the splitting-table have each a leather apron, 
called a barvel, which fits to the neck and covers the 
dress. When the drudo-e-barrow is full, it is dragored to 
the upper end of the stage, where the fish is taken out 
and salted. The mistress is generally the salter. The 
stao;e-work connnences in the evenino;, as soon as the 
fishing-boat arrives, and if the put of fish is large, will 
occupy the whole night. As soon as the sun is up 
next morning, the females have to carry the last water- 
horse from the stage to the flake, a distance of some 
fifty yards, in a hand-barrow. The hand-barrow is 



THE FISHERY. 211 

made by nailing a few short pieces of board on two 
'small poles, about eight feet long ; and is carried be- 
tween two persons. The quantity of fish in the water- 
horse is indefinite ; it simply means one put or trip of 
fish, that had been washed from the salt the day before, 
and left to drain ; sometimes it is not more than two or 
three quintals, sometimes it is ten or twelve ; but each 
quintal of fish, in this green state, is calculated to 
weigh two hundred and forty pounds. Breakfast over, 
all hands away into the stage, to prepare another water- 
horse for the next day. A put of fish, sufficiently 
salted, is thrown into the vat ; water is then drawn up 
with a rope and block, put in the vat, and the salt 
is washed off; the fish is taken out of the vat and 
left to drain. This is the water-horse, ^he water- 
horse being thus prepared, the fish spread in the morn- 
ing has to be turned ; after which, perhaps an hour is 
taken to trench the potatoes or weed the garden. In 
the afternoon the dry fish has to be put in piles or large 
round heaps, and covered with rinds. And as evening 
approaches, the fish spread in the morning has to be 
taken up and put in fagot, or little heaps, and left on 
the flake until next day, when it is again spread. The 
sun is nearly down by the time the fish is in fagot, 
when the out-door work necessarily ceases. But the 
poor, exhausted females have scarcely sat down in the 
dusk of the summer evening to take a little refresh- 
ment, before the voice of one of the boat's crew is 
heard : " Come, missis, a fine put of fish." The re- 
sponse to this is, " Come girls, finish your tea, and let 
us get to work." There is then the same work the 
second night as the first, and the same routine of labor 
the next day as has been already described ; and thus 
it continues during the week, until Saturday night ; so 



212 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

that the women, no more than the men, get a night's 
rest. Often have I heard the women complain for 
want of sleep, and say, " If I had but two hours' 
sleep in twenty-four, I could stand the week's labor ; 
but to do witliout rest for nearly a week is too much 
for my strength." This state of things continues only 
during caplin scull, and then only when the fishing is 
good, and the weather fine. If it rains, or is damp, 
nothing can be done on the flake. When a rainy day 
comes, some of the girls will almost leap for joy, and 
exclaim, '' Oh, how it rains ! we shall have rest to-day ; 
the more rain the more rest." 

To the west the case is something different, as the 
boats are larger and go a greater distance ; so that the 
fish are split at sea by the boat's crew. 

In the month of August, the merchant's large boat, 
or galloper, goes to the planter's fishing-room, to select 
the first " dry fish." A culler usually goes in the 
boat, to select the mercantile fish. The culler makes 
three qualities of fish, — merchantable, madeira, and 
West Indian. The merchantable goes up the Medi- 
terranean, to Roman Catholic countries ; Halifax and 
the United States are markets for the madeira, and the 
inferior fish find sale in the West India Islands. 

The fishery on the north shore ends either on the 
twentieth or on the last of October, when, the. voyage 
being over, those shipped in the spring receive their 
wages and a clearance. Some of the fishermen are 
not encrao;ed for wao-es, but are on shares, and are said 
to cut their tails ; which means that they cut a piece 
from the tail of the fish as soon as it is taken out of 
the water, by which the man's fish is known from the 
rest. Of tliis fish one half is his, as wages, and the 
other half belongs to the planter for the supplies. Such 



THE FISHERY. 213 

a person is said to " have half his hand." The " lay " 
is less than " half the hand." 

All the fish-oil belongs to the planter. The liver of 
the fish, as said above, is dropped through a hole in 
the splitting-table, into the gully or barrel beneath ; 
when the gully is full of liver it is emptied into a vat 
or hogshead outside, and exposed to the weather ; the 
heat of the sun melts the liver, and it becomes oil. 
The rain helps to purify the oil, which in the autumn 
is drawn off into barrels, and at once is fit for expor- 
tation. 

The fishery over, a few days are required to dig the 
potatoes, and put them in the cellar. The cellar is 
simply a hole dug in the ground and planked up, 
against which a quantity of earth is thrown to make it 
frost-proof; it has a double door, and a southern 
aspect, so as to be entered on a mild day during 
winter. 

About the last week in October is the time for the 
planter to settle his yearly account with the merchant, 
and get his winter supplies. The winter supplies are 
similar to the spring supplies, minus the articles req- 
uisite for the fishery. If the fishery has been good, 
or the planter independent, the winter supplies are 
always ample, the family live well ; but if the fishery 
is poor, or the planter dependent upon his merchant, 
his winter stock of provision and clothing are very 
scant, and often, after the exhausting toil of the sum- 
mer, on his part, and the almost superhuman labor of 
his wife, his family have to eke out an existence, 
during a long winter, upon fish and potatoes ; and 
even these articles of food fail before the arrival of 
spring. 

When the winter supplies are brought home, the 



214 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

fishing-boats have to be liauled up or taken into some 
safe harbor, the fishing-stages which are exposed to 
the action of the sea have to be taken in, and the 
dweUincr-houses to be secured against the cold as much 
as possible. 

THE WINTER SEASON. 

In many harbors to the west, it is a custom for a 
number of families to o;o to the woods durino- winter, to 
do a winter's work, as building boats, cutting hoop- 
poles, or making staves for barrels. Sometimes they 
migrate for the sole object of catching fresh meat, — 
that is, of killing deer during winter, and wild geese 
in the spring, with both of which the country abounds. 
But going into the woods is not so generally a prac- 
tice in Conception Bay. 

The men in o-eneral do little else durino; winter, than 
get " room-stuff" and firewood. A man's wages in 
winter are very low, and a strong man can be hired 
for the season for his board, with his cuffs and buskins. 
The cuff" Is for the hand, made like a mitten, but the 
substance is a stout, white cloth, called " swanskin." 
It is doubled on the back of the hand, and stitched 
until it is almost impervious to water. The buskin is 
for the leg, to keep out the snow. It is also made of 
swanskin. While the men can be hired for this small 
remuneration, the wages of the females are nearly as 
much in the winter as in the summer. 

As winter approaches, the carriages have to be re- 
paired or made for getting out the firewood. These 
are of two kinds, the slide and the catamaran. The 
slide was a segment cut out of plank, the convex side 
to move on the snow. The catamaran was made like a 
hand-sled. To these carrlao-es two doo;s were harnessed 



THE WINTER SEASON. 215 

in tandem, and a man on the left side, to guide the 
carriage and its load with his right arm, while a '" haul- 
ing rope would pass over his left shoulder, with which 
he would assist the dogs in dragging their burden. 
This was the Newfoundland team. In some few places, 
there was an occasional horse, but this was the team 
generally used all over the country, in those days, for 
getting out firewood. The load that this team would 
drive for miles out of the woods was surprising. In 
Bonavista, the man and his two dogs would sometimes 
drao; eio;ht or ten " turn " four miles. A turn is what 
a man can carry a short distance without resting. The 
Newfoundland dog is famous all over the world. They 
are usually fed on the offal fish. 

The s-lide, or catamaran, can only be used on the snow. 
If w^ood be wanted before the snow fall, it must be 
" spelled out," that is, carried on men's shoulders ; and 
when some snow has fallen, but not sufficient to make a 
good path, the stick of wood is nobbled out. To nob- 
ble is to drag on the ground. 

When the snow has fallen sufficiently deep, the snow 
path is formed. This is done by a number of men 
walking with pot-lid rackets. The word racket means 
a snow-shoe, but the racket of the Newfoundland woods- 
man is made by nailing strips of board on a small hoop 
about eight inches in diameter. The pot-lid rackets 
are fastened to the feet, and, by using these several 
times, the snow is pressed solid, and a smooth path 
is thus formed. 

The preacher, some time during winter, would have 
a " haul of wood," when all the men in the village 
would turn out, double man the slides, and take four 
dogs to each slide, and bring, in one day, wood enough 
for the whole year. In Burin, this can not be done. 



216 NEWFOUNDLAND AND 1T3 MISSIONARIES. 

owing to its insular position, but the wood has to be 
brouo-ht in a boat. One year, the writer failed in oret- 
ting wood in the fall ; he had therefore himself to" haul 
the slide," accompanied by his " winter man," and thus 
drag from the woods all the fuel his family required for 
the season. But God gave him strength for his day, 
and he felt it no dishonor, as the circumstances of his 
missionary work rendered such labor necessary. 

The winter houses are called tilts. The Newfound- 
land tilt can lay no claim to any ancient order of archi- 
tecture, but is in its style perfectly original. The walls 
are formed of rough spruce sticks, called studs, of about 
six inches in diameter, the height of the sides six feet, 
and of the gables about ten or twelve feet. The studs 
are placed perpendicularly, wedged close together, and 
the chinks or interstices filled with moss. This is the 
only defence against the cold. A ridge-pole passes lon- 
gitudinally from the gables on which the round rafters 
are notched. These are covered with rinds, or the 
spruce bark which had been used during the summer 
as covering for the fish-piles. These rinds make the 
tilt water-ticrht. A hole is left in the rinds, about four 
feet square, which serves the double purpose of a vent 
for the smoke and an aperture for the solar rays to 
permeate the dwelling. The tilt has seldom any win- 
dow. The floor is made with round studs like the 
walls, which are sometimes hewed a little with an adze. 

A few stones, piled five feet high, form the fireplace. 
These stones are placed close to the studs, which, being 
thus exposed to great heat, will often ignite. A vessel 
full of water was always at hand to extinguish the 
kindling spark ; and it required no small skill to throw 
the water from that vessel up the chimney in such a 
manner as to prevent its return, surcharged with soot, 



THE WINTER SEASON. 217 

upon the head of the unfortunate operator. A rough 
door, a few shelves, and a swinging-table fastened to 
the side of the building, exhausts nearly all the boards 
usually allowed for such structures. 

In a tilt like the above, with the only addition of a 
rough, boarded floor, and two windows, brought from 
the mission-house, did the writer, with his family, spend 
the winter of 1827-1828. In the mission-tilt, however, 
we had three apartments, two sleeping apartments, 
and one large room, nearly twenty feet square, which 
was our kitchen, our parlor, my study, and also our 
chapel where we held public service and class-meet- 
ings during the winter. The carpets from the mission- 
house w^e put to a new use, for, instead of wearing 
them under our feet, we tacked them overhead, to 
keep away the dust and the cold. This event occurred 
in the Burin Circuit. Our tilt was erected upon the 
bank of a large lake, called Fresh-water Pond, and, as 
we were surrounded by some twenty Wesleyan fami- 
lies who had migrated there from Burin Harbor, we 
called the locality of our winter residence Wesley 
Vale. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SABBATH-BREAKING — ANKCDOTK OF MRS. LOCK — THE CARBONEAR 
CAPTAIN — JOHN PICKAVANT — JOHN LEWIS — METHODISM IN 
BUKTN — THOMAS HICKSON — JAMES HICKSON — STATION FOR 1817 
— NEW CIRCUITS — HARBOR GRACE — TRINITY — WESTERN BAY — 
FORTUNE BAY — HANTS HARBOR — CAPTAIN VICARS — HEPLEY 
VICARS — SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 

THE great sin with which tlie early missionaries 
liad to contend was Sabbath-breaking. HauHng 
caphn and jigging squids for bait were generally prac- 
tised on that sacred day. Catching fish, sometimes ; 
but taking seals and making fish on the Sabbath were 
universally practised. The seal-hunter would say, " If 
the seals come near my vessel on the Sabbath day, it is 
Providence sends them, and it would be tempting Prov- 
idence not to take them." The skipper of the boats 
would say, " I must get bait on Sabbath, in order to be 
early on the ground on Monday morning, or I shall 
miss the scull ; " and the skipper of the shore crew, " I 
must spread my fish, or it will spoil, if the weather be 
fine." And this constant breach of the holy day would 
be justified in the estimation of the parties by quoting 
Luke xiv. 5, " Which of you shall have an ass or an 
ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him 
out on the Sabbath day ? " Such were the force of 
habit and the influence of bad example that many 
persons, after they professed religion, seemed to think 
that some of these things might be done guiltlessly. 
One of the first, if not the very first person in New- 

(218; 



A.NECDOTE OF MRS. LOCK. 219 

foundlaiid, who made a stand against spreading fisli on 
the Sabbath day, was Mrs. EHzabeth Lock, of Lower 
Island Cove, whose name has probably now become 
somewhat familiar to the reader. 

She was skipper of the shore crew. She had re- 
monstrated with her husband on the evil of workino: 
on the Sabbath ; but he insisted upon it that fish should 
be spread if the weather was fine ; and such an act 
would be no violation of the fourth commandment. 
She thought differently, and determined, by the grace 
of God, come what would, she would not spread her 
fish on the Sabbath day. A time came when her faith 
was to be put to the test. Her husband was from 
home, and the responsibility of the voyage rested upon 
her. The weather had been foggy for several days, 
but it cleared up on the Sabbath morning. All hands 
were on the flakes except Mrs. Lock and her crew. 
As soon as the neighbors had spread their own fish, 
they went to inquire for the absentees-, when the fol- 
lowing conversation took place : — 

Neighbor. " Mrs. Lock, are you unwell, that you have not 
spread your fish, this fine morning '? " 

Mrs. Lock. " I am not unwell, thank God ; and I have not 
spread my fish, because it would be breaking the Sabbath." 

Neighbor. " But you have always done so before, and so has 
every one else." 

Mrs. Lock. " True, but we have all done wrong ; and it is time 
that we repented of our sins, and lived differently." 

Neighbor. " But you will lose your voyage ; for this hot day 
will certainly spoil every fish that is left in fagot ." * 

Mrs. Lock. " I would rather lose my voyage than lose my soul, 
which certainly will be the case if 1 live in sin." 

Neighbor. '• We will spread your fish for you." 

Mrs. Lock. " The sin would be the same. If I do not go on 
the flake myself, I will not allow any one else to go there." 

1 "Fagot" is a small pile of fish left on the flake at night, or during 
rainy weather. 



220 ^ NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Neighbor. " But your husband, what -will he say ? He will be 
very angry, and justly so ; for you will cause his ruin." 

When tliis neiglibor had left, our Christian heroine 
was, for a time, much agitated, and thought she must 
yield ; but determined she would first lay the case before 
the Lord in prayer. She retired to her chamber and 
prayed that wisdom might be given to her to do the thing 
that was risht ; and that if she was to suffer for doino 
right, she might have strength and grace foi^ the trial 
She arose from her knees, and resolved, *' Come what 
will, I will never again spread fish on the holy Sabbath." 

The day was very fine, and sun scorching. In the 
evening some of her friends came and upbraided her 
for her neglect ; and, among other unkind things, they 
said, " We have saved our voyage, but all your fish will 
be lost." Some outside called her a Methodist fool. 
That night she slept but little, so great was her anxiety. 
As soon as dayhght came, she went on the flake, to see 
what had happened to her fish. " I trembled," said 
she " as I went from the house ; for I expected nothing 
else but that every fish then on the flake would have 
to be thrown away. But I looked at one fagot, then 
at another, and so all over the flake, when, to my utter 
surprise, I found my fish were not injured. My neigh- 
bors also were soon on their flakes, and they went 
there with a smile at me. But that smile was soon 
changed into a deep seriousness ; for it was evident at 
once that every fish which had been spread on the 
Sabbath was scorched and destroyed by the very pow- 
erful rays of the sun. It was sunburnt, but my fish 
were not exposed, and, with the exception of a few on 
the top of the fagot, none were injured, and my voy- 
age turned out well.^ 

* The above particulars were detailed to the writer by Mrs. Lock, in a 
conversation on the evil of Sabbath-breaking. 



THE CARBOXEAR CAPTAIN. 221 

This was a great triumph for religion, and the effect 
was soon seen in Island Cove and alono- the North 
Shore ; and while it is now an admitted principle that 
the Lord's day should be kept holj, yet it is to be feared 
that many persons, contrary to their convictions, do 
still violate the sanctity of the Sabbath by doing work 
connected with the fishery. 

A few years later, a similar case occurred at the ice 
to one of our Methodist captains from Carbonear. A 
young man, master of an ice-hunter, had lately found 
the pardoning love of God, when duty called him to 
go on a sealing-voyage. He resolved he would not 
take seals on the Sabbath, and told his men so before 
he left the harbor. 

One very fine Sabbath, a floe came near his vessel, 
on which was a great number of seals. The men, 
notwithstanding what he had told them, prepared to 
take the seals. He forbade them ; still they persisted. 
He however stood in the gangway and declared, " Not a 
seal shall be put on board my schooner this day." Pres- 
ently another schooner saw the floe, bore down upon 
it, and immediately commenced taking the seals on 
board ; and by night she had taken about five hundred. 
The day was very fine, and the reflection of the sun's 
rays, from the snow and ice, greatly affected the eyes 
of the men. The Monday morning came, the floe 
was still there, and more seals upon it than were seen 
on the Sabbath. Our Methodist captain now directed 
his men to go to work, which they did with a good 
will, and in three days they captured sixteen hundred 
seals ; while the men on board the other schooner 
were all ice-blind, and, after the Sabbath, they never 
took another seal for the season. 

The first Newfoundland district had only six mem- 

19* 



222 .NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

bers. Of William Ellis and Sampson Bushbj, the 
two first names on the list, we have given some ac- 
connt in our brief biographical sketches. A few notices 
of the other brethren w^e shall now lay before the 
reader. 

John Pickavant was a native of Lancashire, born in 
1792. He was brought to God when in his sixteenth 
year, and when quite young, he began to exercise his 
talents as a local preacher. In the year 1814, he was 
called into the regular work, and appointed to New- 
foundland. He filled the office of chairman of the dis- 
trict for many years, and labored on the island for about 
thirty years. He was a good preacher ; his address 
was easy, engaging, and dignified ; and his views of 
evangelical truth were clear and comprehensive. His 
health was not generally good. In the year 1843, he 
returned to England, with his health greatly impaired. 
He, however, so far recovered as to take some impor- 
tant circuits in his native land. He died, while Super- 
intendent of the Third Leeds Circuit, on the 27tli of 
March, 1848, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the 
thirty-fourth of his ministry. 

John Lewis, Sen., was a native of Wales. He was 
called out into the ministry by the conference of 1814,. 
and appointed to Newfoundland, where he labored for 
six years. He was one of the first missionaries to the 
westward of St. Johns. In the autumn of 1817, an 
opening for Methodism occurred in the harbor of Bu- 
rin, in Placentia Bay. The brethren sent him there ; 
a place where a Methodist preacher had never set his 
foot, far away from any communication with his breth- 
ren, and where he had not one Christian friend with 
whom he could converse. Moreover, the leading mer- 
chants were opposed to Methodism, and the wickedness 



THOMAS AND JAMES HICKSON. 223 

of the people was proverbial. He went, however, In 
the true spirit of a Christian missionary, firmly trusting 
that tlie Great Head of the church would open his 
way, and give him success in his w^ork. He was not 
disappointed. The people received him with all con- 
ceivable kindness ; they opened their houses to him ; 
they built a church, and contributed largely to his sup- 
port. God blessed his preaching, so that many were 
turned from their evil ways. A society was formed, 
and Methodism took firm hold of the people, which 
hold it still retains. For many years, the name of John 
Lewis was remembered with much affection and esteem ; 
and his removal from the circuit was deeply regretted. 
In the spring of 1820, brother Lewis left Newfound- 
land, and labored in England two years, when he was 
appointed to Yell, one of the Shetland Islands, where 
he remained three years, and then returned to England. 
In the minutes of 1863, his name is still recorded as 
living. He is down as supernumerary for Nottingham 
North Circuit. 

Thomas Hickson, an Englishman, entered the itin- 
erant work at the conference of 1815. His first ap- 
pointment was St. Johns, New^foundland. He labored 
in different circuits on the island for nine years, with 
very great acceptance and usefulness ; and in every cir- 
cuit, God honored him in the conversion of souls. 
The summer before he left, he went on a mission to 
the Labrador Indians, of which notice will be taken 
in the proper -place. He returned to England in 1824. 
In the minutes of 1863, his name is down as supernu- 
merary on the Northampton Circuit. 

James Hickson, brother of Thomas Hickson, was 
born in the year 1791. In his sixteenth year, he was 
brought to an experimental acquaintance with the " truth 



224 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

as it is in Jesus," and soon afterward he employed his 
talents as a local preacher with much acceptance. Af- 
ter being so employed for several years, he believed it 
to be his duty to give himself wlioUy to the ministry ; 
and although he had a widowed mother, whose soul 
seemed bound in his, yet the cause of Christ was, in 
his estimation, paramount to all human affections and 
ties. He therefore, painful as it was, broke off from her 
embraces, and offered himself as a missionary at the 
conference of 1815. He was sent to Newfoundland, 
where he labored w^ith great zeal and faithfulness for 
nine years. He was not what people call a great 
preacher, but he was a sound theologian, and preached 
with much earnestness and solemnity. His voice was 
clear, but of a low bass pitch ; so that, in singing, he 
could sound double C with ease. His walk before the 
people was always uniform and circumspect ; and in 
the circuits where he labored, particularly in Island 
Cove and Perlican, Bonavista and Trinity, he was made 
very useful, and many were converted to God through 
his instrumentality. Every one spoke of James Hick- 
son with reverence. He returned to England in 1824, 
where he continued to be eminently successful, both in 
the conversion of sinners and in the edification of be- 
lievers. He died in peace, on the 3d of September, 
1837, in the forty-sixth year of his age, and the 
twenty-third of his ministry. 

The conference of 1815 resolved to send two addi- 
tional missionaries to Newfoundland ; but the mission- 
ary committee increased those two to six ; and, before 
the conference of 1816, the following six additional 
missionaries were sent out : Ninian Barr, George 
Cubit, Richard Knight, John Walsh, Jolni Bell, John 
Haigh. 



STATIONS. 225 

The station-sheet for 1816 reads thus : — 

NEWFOUNDLAND. 

St. Johns — John Pickavant, Ninian Barr. 

CaHbonear — George Cubit, Richard Knight. 

Blackhead — John Walsh, Thomas Hickson. 

Port de Grave — John Lewis. 

Island Cove and Perlican — John Bell, John Haigh. 

Bona VISTA — James Hickson. 

John Bell, Chairman of the District. 
N. B. William Ellis was omitted by mistake, so that the number 
of missionaries was now eleven, and our membership five hundred. 

The above is the list of stations as they appear on 
the printed minutes ; but the committee gave a discre- 
tionary power to the district to make any alteration in 
the appointments that they might deem necessary. 

The following were the stations for that year, as 
altered by the district meeting, and as they appear in 
the minutes of 1817 : — 

St. Johns — George Cubit. 
Carbonear — John Walsh. 
Harbor Grace — Ninian Barr. 
Blackhead — John Pickavant. 
Western Bay — John Haigh. 
Island Cove and Perlican — John Bell. 
Port de Grave — James Hickson. 
Bona VISTA — Thomas Hickson. 
Trinity Harbor — William Ellis. 
Fortune Bay — Richard Knight. 
Hants Harbor — John Lewis. 

The additional circuits are Harbor Grace, Western 
Bay, Trinity Harbor, Fortune Bay, and Hants Harbor. 

Harbor Grace, the scene of Lawrence Coun-hlan's 
labors, and where Methodism was first planted on this 
side the ocean, had for a number of years been less fre- 
quently visited than some other places on the shore, 
because of the determined opposition made against us 



226 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

there ; yet the missionaries had never abandoned the 
ground, and there was always " a faithful few " in that 
interesting town, some of whom had been converted 
under the preaching of Mr. Coughlan ; and now, in 
their old age, were enabled to rejoice that at length 
their prayers were heard, and the desire of their hearts 
realized by the permanent appointment of a Methodist 
preacher to their circuit. 

Western Bay. — This place is on the north shore, 
and about three miles from Bl'ackhead. It has often 
formed a part of the Blackhead Circuit. It contains a 
considerable population, and was a place often visited 
by our first missionaries, as they peregrinated up and 
down the shore. 

TRINITY CIRCUIT. 

John Haigh was the first Wesleyan missionary sta- 
tioned here, which was in 1816. He remained one year, 
and was succeeded, in 1817, by William Ellis. These 
brethren were very kindly received by the people ; and 
the court house was opened for them, as a place of 
worship on the Sabbath. There was, however, much 
gayety in the town, and the court-house was used, 
when wanted, as a ballroom. Our people were but 
few in number, yet they soon commenced a church, 
which was carried to its completion chiefly by the ex- 
ertion of our firm friend. Dr. George Skelton, to whose 
means, influence, and talent Methodism owes its origin 
in Trinity. We have had much to contend with here, 
and we are yet but few ; nevertheless, by the blessing 
of God, after half a century, our cause still lives and 
prospers, and has been the means of salvation to many, 
both in Trinity Harbor, and also in English Harbor, a 
part of the circuit distant six miles. 



TRINITY CIRCUIT. 227 

Fortune Bay is next on our station-sheet. Tlie 
entrance of Fortune Bay is two liundred forty miles west 
from St. Johns ; it is about thirty-five miles wide, and 
eighty in length. It contains a number of harbors, and 
a considerable population. 

Information reached Fortune Bay that several Meth- 
odist missionaries had arrived from England, and a ves- 
sel going from thence to St. Johns, application was 
made for one, for Grand Bank and Fortune Bay ; and 
Richard Knight, afterward so well known in these 
Provinces, was the first Protestant minister, of any de- 
nomination, stationed in that part of the island. Mr. 
Knight remained two years on the station, during 
which time he collected congregations in Grand Bank 
and Fortune Bay, formed the first class, and was instru- 
mental of much good among that interesting people. 
Hickman, Forsey, Evans, and Chilcot, are names well 
known as among the first fruits of Methodism in that 
remote part of the Newfoundland mission. 

The head of the circuit is Grand Bank, a small 
harbor, only fit for fishing-boats and small schooners. 
It is dry at low w^ater. The land is level, the place 
is- pleasant, the inhabitants are not very numerous, 
but a more kind and affectionate people are not to be 
found. They have always highly esteemed their min- 
isters, and have exerted themselves at all times to make 
them and their families comfortable. God has blessed 
them, both with temporal and with spiritual prosperity. 
Fortune, from whence the bay derives its name, is a 
small harbor four miles east from Grand Bank. The 
traveller, after leaving Grand Bank, first had to ford a 
stream, sometimes only to the knees ; at other times it 
would be breast high ; about one mile of land he next 
passed, but the remainder of the journey was over loose 



228 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

stones by the sea-side. Through the whole of this ex- 
tensive region, there was no Protestant church, or any 
rehgious service whatever, except by a man who hved 
some thirty miles up the bay, and who sometimes read 
the church service on Sabbath day. This man was in 
the employment of the " Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts." He was grossly ignorant, 
and, like most other persons in the employment of that 
society, he was most determinately opposed to Method- 
ism. It is difficult to determine which was the most 
glaring, the impudence or the ignorance of this man, — 
this then oyily Protestant teacher in all Fortune Bay. 
One day, this " Reader," who was sometimes digni- 
fied with the cognomen of " Parson," met one of our 
missionaries in the house of our aged friend, Mr. Blake, 
in the harbor of Fortune, when he thought it a good 
opportunity to offer an insult to the Methodist preacher, 
as well as to exhibit his own wisdom^ before the preach- 
er's friends. He therefore most unceremoniously com- 
menced : — 

Teacher. " Aint jou a Methodist preacher ? " 

Missionary. " I am." 

Teacher, " And you call yourself a missionary^ don't you ? " 

Miss. " I do." 

Teacher. " But you aint ' a missionary ; ' our ministers are mis- 
sionaries ; but Methodist preachers aint missionaries." 

Miss. " What should Methodist preachers be called, if they are 
not missionaries ? Pray what is a missionary ? " 

Teacher. " Why, you are only mis-slime-aries ; that is what you 
ought to be called, a ' misskinear>/.' " 

Miss. " Pardon me, sir ; I never heard the word before ; will 
you please tell me what the word means ? " 

Teacher. " A ' misshineary ' means, a man who is inferior to 
a missionary." 

Miss. " Perhaps you will also be kind enough to say, in what re- 
spect Methodist preachers are inferior to Episcopal clergymen." 



HANTS HARBOR. 229 

Teacher. " Why, you are not college-bred ; you don't wear a 
gown, and you don't observe the laws of the Church and the 
Bible." 

Miss. " With regard to not being ' college-bred,' not wearing 
a gown, and not observing the laws of the Church, are all matters 
of small moment ; but it is a matter of serious charge, not to ob- 
serve the laws of God. In what respect do we not observe the 
laws of God V " 

Teacher. " You eat pork on Friday.' 

Miss. " Does the Bible forbid eating pork on Friday ? " 

Teacher. " To be sure it does." 

Miss. " I do not remember to have read such a prohibition in the 
Bible. Will you please to tell me in what part of the holy book 
it is to be found V " 

Taking up the Bible, and turning over a number of leaves, he 
looked confused ; and, after a little while, said, 

" I do not think it is in the Bible, either ; but I am sure it is in 
the Prayer Book." 

Miss. " I do not remember to have seen anything in the Prayer 
Book about eating ' pork on Friday.' " 

Teacher. " But I am sure it is there. Taking up a Prayer Book, 
he read the Rubric : ' Observe all the Fridays in the year, except 
Christmas-day, as days of fasting or abstinence.* " 

Miss. " What is that to the purpose V "■ 

Teacher. " Does it not say ' Observe all the Fridays as days of 
abstinence ? ' and what does abstinence mean but pork V " 

Such was the intelligence of the only Protestant 
teacher in the bay, when the providence of God led 
the first Newfoundland district to send one of their 
number for the instruction of the people. 

Hants Harbor is the least on the list of stations. 
It is situated on the south shore of Trinity Bay, about 
eighteen miles from Old Perlican. Some of the first 
settlers came from Old Perlican ; and several of the 
aged people knew the first Methodist preachers that 
visited that place. Methodism was the only religious 
system with which they were acquainted; they loved 
its doctrines ; and brother Lewis was received by them 

•20 



230 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONAKTES. 

with much thankfulness and pleasure. Seal Cove, 
three miles below, and Scilly Cove, six miles above 
Hants Harbor, constitute the several parts of the cir- 
cuit. Above Scilly Cove, three miles, is New Perlican : 
and about the same distance above New Perlican is 
Heart's Content. These places were occasionally vis- 
ited by our ministers. 

The a])poiiitment of Mr^ Cubit to St. Johns was a 
great benefit to our rising cause in that important town. 
Mr. Cubit had been in his circuit but a short time 
before his learning and abilities were known to the 
public, and attracted large congregations to our church. 
The numbers who flocked to hear liim were not disap- 
pointed ; for few preachers, in their pubhc capacity, 
were more " apt to teach," than Mr. Cubit. His store 
of information was inexhaustible, his manner was strik- 
ing and simple, his reasoning was cogent, his exposi- 
tions of .Scripture were rich, and his arguments in de- 
fence of revealed truth convincing and unanswerable. 

Among other fruits of his ministry was a young gen- 
tleman attached to the army, — Lieutenant, afterwards 
Captain Vicars, of the Royal Engineers, who came to 
St. Johns light and volatile in his manners, and in his 
mind strongly imbued with deistical principles. Hear- 
ing of the learning and fame of this newly arrived 
Methodist preacher, he thought he would go and hear 
him, and see if he could prove that the Bible was the 
word of God. The preaching and private conversa- 
tion of Mr. Cubit discovered to him his error, and he 
soon became convinced of his guilty state by nature, 
and he sought and found the pardoning mercy of God. 
Shortly afterward was seen in St. Johns the great 
moral phenomenon of a military officer, in his uniform, 
preaching the gospel of Jesus, in a Methodist chapel, 



HEDLEY VICARS. 231 

to the public, to his comrades in arms, and to his quon- 
dam companions in vice. 

Captain Vicars married in St. Johns, and the lady 
of his choice was also a Wesleyan. The regiment to 
Avhich he belonged removed from Newfoundland about 
two years after his conversion ; but he and his excel- 
lent lady carried their religion and their Methodism 
with them ; and when God gave them a family, they 
endeavored to bring them up in his fear, 

Hedley Vicars was the son of this gentleman. He 
received a mihtary education, obtained a commission in 
the army, and was attached to the ninety-seventh' regi- 
ment of foot. Durino; the fearful struo;^;!^ with Rus- 
sia, the ninety-seventh was ordered to the scene of 
conflict. The relio;ious instruction that vouncr Vicars 
had received, while under the paternal roof, was blessed 
to him ; and in early life he became a subject of con- 
verting grace. Like his father, he was not ashamed 
of the cross, but whether on the sea-o-irt Island of 
Malta, surrounded by the mummeries of Popery, on 
the mountains, in the dells, or before the crumbling 
ruins of classic Greece ; whether advancing to the 
front, where the booming of distant artillerj'- showed 
the position of Sebastopol and its deadly heights, or 
doing dangerous duty in the trenches, he instructed 
his men in his Bible-classes, he boldly bore the gibes 
of his brother oificers, and, in return, made known to 
them and to all others who would listen, the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ. This noble youth fell in the 
trenches, when repelling a night attack by the Rus- 
sians, on the twenty-second of March, 1855. Among 
his last words were, " This way, ninety-seventh," in- 
tended to direct his men as to their advance, and show- 
ing that he was a military hero, being himself in the 



232 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

place of danger ;. and words which were expressive, 
also, of his religious state, and directing those for w^iose 
salvation he had labored, the way to life and immor- 
tality. An interesting life of Hedley Vicars has been 
published ; but all reference to his Methodism, or the 
Methodism of his pious father, has been studiously 
avoided. 

SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

In those days, there was but little education in New- 
foundland. Very many large communities were with- 
out any kind of school ; so that only a few persons could 
read, less were able to write, and to see a young mar- 
ried couple sign the marriage register was no ordinary 
event. To meet this want as much as possible, our 
brethren established Sabbath schools in every circuit ; 
but the lack of persons competent to teach rendered 
it necessary for the preachers and their families to take 
the principal part in instructing the children, from the 
etiunciation of the letters of the alphabet to that of 
reading the Scriptures of truth. There were no Wes- 
leyan Catechisms then in existence ; so that instruction 
in gospel doctrines and Bible history had all to be given 
verbally, which was a great additional labor for the 
preachers. But they were compensated in the readi- 
ness wdiich the children showed in acquiring the art of 
reading, and the knowledge of those subjects to which 
their attention was directed. Hundreds of persons in 
Newfoundland obtained all their knowledo-e in our Sab- 
bath schools ; and the religious im])ressions made upon 
their minds, while in those schools, were never forgot- 
ten ; but in many instances, in after life, w^ere the 
means of their conversion. 

As every person, both male and female, was en- 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 233 

gaged in the fishery, either in catching or curing the 
fish, we could have no meetings on week days during 
the summer, but all our meetings were crowded to- 
gether on the Lord's day. Thus in most of the out 
harbors at six o'clock in the morning, a prayer- 
meeting would be held in the chapel ; at seven, a class- 
meeting ; at nine, the Sabbath school ; at eleven, preach- 
ing ; at two, the Sabbath school again ; at three, 
preaching ; after preaching, a female class ; and at 
half-past six either preaching or prayer-meeting. At 
all these meetings the missionary was expected to be 
present ; so that to him the Sabbath was indeed a day 
of toil. But God gave the missionaries strength for 
their day, and blessed them in their work. 



20* 



CHAPTER VIII, 



NEWFOUNDLAND MISSIONARY SOCIETY — NOVA SCOTIA MISSIONARY SO- 
CIETY — JOHN BELL — GEORGE CUBIT — JOHN WALSH — JOHN HAIGH 
— RICHARD KNIGHT — WESLEYAN MISSIONS — PROPAGATION SOCIE- 
TY — PERSECUTION IN BONAVISTA — ARRIVAL OF THE WRITER — 
STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 



THE number of missionaries at the first district 
meeting, which was in 1816, was eleven; and the 
district contained tlie same number for twenty-four 
years. The number was Incj-eased to twelve in 1840. 

The missionary committee, in their report for 1816, 
p. 25, say, — " In Newfoundland there are not less 
than twenty thousand persons without religious In- 
struction ; and the old people among the settlers, who 
remember this ' land of Bibles and ordinances,' often 
weep that the year now rolls over them without Sab- 
baths, without public worship and the ministry of the 
word ! " 

In this same year, our missionary income was 
<£12,.565 Os. 9ic?., which paid all the expenses of the 
year, and left a balance in hand of £2,705 18s. 
The total number of missionaries was ninety, and of 
our missionary membership twenty-one thousand and 
ninety-seven. 

Here let it be recorded that as Newfoundland was 
the first s])ot In our moral world cultivated by Metho- 
dist missionary enterprise, so it was the very first place, 
out of England and Scotland, that contributed to our 
mission fund. Even Ireland, with all her magnanim- 

(234) 



NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT. 



235 



ity, and although she lias given so many missionaries 
to this and other countries, and lono; has had a Confer- 
ence of her own, yet her name does not appear in the 
Report of 1817 as a contributor to our mission fund ; 
but Newfoundland stands out in bold relief, as the first 
contributor in the sum of £30 18s. Qd. sterhng. There 
was no Missionary Auxiliary Society then formed ; but 
the preachers mentioned the matter to particular friends, 
who promptly poured their moneys into the treasury of 
the Lord. The subscriptions were taken in the autumn 
of 1816, and paid at the district meeting held in May, 
1817. For the honor of the names, and the satisfaction 
it may give to the children or families whose eye may 
catch this narrative, I will transcribe the missionary 
list from the Report of 1817, which now lies before me. 



NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT. 



Cawley, James, Esq., 
Chancy, L., Esq., 
Cowan, Mr. James, . 
Cowan, Mrs., 
Gosse, J., Esq., 
Henderson, Mr. J., 
Henderson, Mr. B., . 
Johnson, Mr., 
Lilly, W., Esq., 
McCartney, Mr., . 
St. John, Mr., . 
Thistle, Mrs., 

Small sums under 20s., 



£5 10 



1 10 
1 5 

7 18 



£30 18 6 

Such was the first missionary list, out of Great 
Britain. 

While Newfoundland was the first foreign contrib- 
utor to our mission fund. Nova Scotia has the honor 
orf having formed the first foreign auxiliary missionary 
society. 



236 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

On the third of June, 1817, and only a few weeks 
after the above money was remitted to England, " the 
Methodist Missionary Society for the district of Nova 
Scotia, including New Brunswick and Prince Edward's 
Island," was formed in Argyle Street Chapel, Halifax. 
Dunng the year, branches were formed in Hahfax, 
Liverpool, Shelburne, St. Johns, Fredericton, Annap- 
ohs, Cumberland, Horton, Newport, and Lunenburg ; 
and the total net amount remitted was X323 7s. 3fZ. 
sterling. The first annual meeting of this society was 
held in Halifax, June 2, 1818, when ten resolutions 
were passed, and twenty speakers addressed the meeting 
besides the chairman. The above amount was re- 
})()rted at this meeting. 

From the report published by the Nova Scotia Mis- 
sionary Society, in 1818, we make the following ex- 
tract : — 

" In Newfoundland, where so much distress has lately prevailed, 
and still continues to exist; where there have been such de- 
structive fires ; where so many pecuniary embarrassments have 
been felt; and where there are so many things to discourage 
and depress the minds of missionaries, — your committee are happy 
to inform you, that Methodist missionaries are employed in blow- 
ing the gospel trumpet, and are wandering along its barren 
shores to scatter the word of life. There they have necessarily 
to endure many trials, to labor under peculiar disadvantages ; and 
having lately had two of their best chapels destroyed by fire, 
they continue undaunted and undismayed ; and, relying upon the 
Lord God of Elijah, cheerfully prosecute their labors; and by the 
latest accounts from them, we learn that a gracious work is pro- 
gressing in several of their stations and circuits." 

The circuits to which reference is here made were 
Island Cove and Perlican, under Thomas Hickson ; 
Harbor Grace, under James Hickson ; Trinity, under 
William Ellis ; and Bur6n, imder John Lewis ; in all 
which places, at that time, the Spirit was poured out 



JOHN BELL. 237 

from on high ; and our societies received a character 
and a permanency which they still retain. 

A biographical sketch of the preachers connected 
with the first district meeting, which have not been so 
noticed, will now be given. 

John Bell was a native of Hull, in Yorkshire, born 
October 19, 1788. His parents were Episcopalians, 
but he was awakened to a sense of his lost state by 
nature when in the fourteenth year of his age, and 
joined the Wesleyan church. When in his twenty- 
first year, he began to use his talents as a local 
preacher ; and in the year 1811 he was received as a 
probationer in our ministry. He travelled five years in 
England, when he came to Newfoundland as a mission- 
ary in 1816, and was appointed chairman of the dis- 
trict. He was the second man who filled that office, and 
he retained that position until the year 1823, when he 
returned to his native land. He continued to labor in 
his high vocation until the year 1851, when he became 
a supernumerary. He was very neat and precise in 
his person. His preaching abilities were not of a high 
order ; still, as a preacher, he w^as distinguished b;y his 
perspicuity and great simplicity. He was an excellent 
pastor, and in the sick-chamber and by the bed of the 
dying his affectionate manner was often made a bless- 
ing. He died in peace, October 26, 1855, in the 
sixty-eighth year of his age, and the forty-fifth of his 
ministry. 

George Cubit was born in the city of Norwich, in 
the year 1791. His father's family removed to Shef- 
field, while he was yet a boy, when he attended Carver- 
Street Chapel. He joined the Wesleyan church in 
1808, and soon after became a subject of pardon, 
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He now be- 



238 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



gan to employ himself for the benefit of others, and it 
is believed that he originated the plan of tract dis- 
tribution by loan. He also commenced to act as a 
local preacher, when the great powers of his mind 
became developed, and it was seen that he was no 
ordinary man, but gave promise of superior abilities. 
He was received on trial for the itinerancy, at the con- 
ference of 1813, and labored three years in England. 
He came to Newfoundland in 1816, and removed from 
thence in 1819, spending three years of his useful life 
as a missionary on that important island. Of the man- 
ner of his preaching, and the success of his labors as 
a Newfoundland missionary, we have already spoken ; 
and we shall now follow him to his native land. 

For sixteen years, he filled some of our most impor- 
tant circuits, commanding large congregations of highly 
cultivated and intelligent hearers. In 1836, he was 
called to fill the editorial chair, first as assistant, and 
afterward as principal editor of our English Magazine, 
and the various other literary and religious w^orks that 
constantly flow from that important establishment, the 
Wesleyan Book -Room, City Road, London. For many 
years, he presided over the literature of the connection 
with great judgment. It is said, however, that in his 
latter years he became quite a recluse, seldom mixing 
with society, which was a great grief to his friends, 
whom he had so often instructed and delighted with 
his boundless stores of religious, scientific, and miscel- 
laneous knowledge. He died, October 13, 1850, in 
the fifty-ninth year of his age, and the thirty-seventh 
of his ministry. 

John Walsh was born at Ormskirk, Lancashire, in 
the year 1795. His parents were Roman Catholics, 
and he was brought up in that religion. His father 



REVS. JOHN WALSH AND NINIAN BARR. 239 

intended that he should be a priest, and his early 
education was all in reference to that object. Re- 
moving from Ormskirk to Liverpool, he was led to 
visit the Methodist Chapel, where, under the ministry 
of the Rev. Joseph Entwisle, he was brought to the 
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. To the grief 
and disappointment of his popish friends, but to th? 
honor of our Protestantism, he renounced the Papacy, 
and became a Wesleyan Methodist. In the year 1814, 
he was received on trial as a Wesleyan minister, and 
stationed in Lancaster, under the superintendency of 
the Rev. John Beaumont. After laboring two years 
in the Lancaster Circuit, he came, in 1814, to New- 
foundland, and was appointed to Carbonear. He spent 
nine years on the Newfoundland mission, and returned 
to England in the year 1825. His manner, by some, 
was thought to be stiff and priestly ; but, as a preacher, 
he was faithful and laborious ; and his sermons were 
rich in evangelical truth, and always delivered with 
earnestness and power. He was called to his reward 
on the 19th of December, in the year 1857, in the 
sixty-third year of his age, and the forty-fourth of his 
ministry. Before he died, his speech having failed, 
his sorrowing wife exclaimed, " Victory ! " He moved 
his head in token of assent, and then fell asleep in 
Jesus. 

Ninian Barr, a Scotchman by birth. He was called 
into the itinerant work by the conference of 1816, and 
appointed as a missionary to Newfoundland. His man- 
ner was cheerful ; he was a man of talent, and a good 
preacher. He labored on the island ten years, then 
returned to Enghmd. He filled several important cir- 
cuits, but was compelled to retire from the active work, 
by infirmity, at the conference of 1854. His name is 



240 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

on the minutes as a supernumerary in the Ahroath and 
Montrose Circuit, in 1863. 

John Haigh was born in Leeds, in 1795, and was 
brought to God under a sermon preached by the late Mr. 
William Dawson. In 1816, he was received into the 
Wesleyan ministry, and sent to Newfoundland, where 
he labored twenty-one years. He occupied some of 
the best circuits in the district, with great acceptance to 
the people ; and in nearly all the circuits he witnessed 
a revival of religion. In 1837, he was nominated 
chairman of the Bahama District, but his constitution 
would not endure a tropical clime ; he therefore re- 
turned to England, and labored eighteen years in his 
native land. He was a man of clear perception, a good 
theologian, an earnest, faithful, and practical preacher. 
He was attacked with paralysis ; and, after remaining 
speechless for two days, he died May 2, 1859, in the 
sixty-fourth year of bis age, and the forty-third of his 
ministry. 

Richard Knight, D. D., was born in Devonshire, in 
the year 1788. We have no information of the time 
and circumstances connected with his conversion to 
God ; but we know that he was one of the young men 
sent to Newfoundland in 1816. His first appointment 
was Fortune Bay, and, as we have seen, he was the first 
Protestant minister of any name that resided among 
that people. His next appointment was Bonavista and 
Catalina, on the way to which the fishing-boat in which 
he sailed put into the harbor of Trinity. While there, 
he preached from Jeremiah xxii. 29, " O earth, earth, 
earth, hear the word of the Lord." A lady was pres- 
ent, then one of the gayest of the gay. She had been 
brought up a strict Church-of-England woman ; and 
while she in heart despised Methodism, yet she thought 



REV. MR. KNIGHT. 241 

she would go, for once, to the Methodist chapel ; it 
might afford her some amusement. But her mind, that 
night, was powerfully wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. 
She became a penitent ; she sought and found mercy ; 
she united herself with our church ; boldly bore the 
cross ; became an humble follower of the Lord Jesus, 
employing her time and her ample means in visiting 
the sick and the poor ; and to the utmost did she spread 
abroad the knowledo;e of relio;ion. She was not ashamed 
to call herself a Wesleyan, and sustained the cause of 
Methodism by all means in her power. This lady was 
the wife of William Kelson, Esq., who also became a 
member of our church, and who, with Dr. George 
Skelton, were for many years the principal supporters 
of our cause in the Trinity Circuit. 

Mr. Knight labored in Newfoundland for sixteen 
years, and in several circuits was he made eminently 
useful. In Carbonear and Blackhead, extensive re- 
vivals took place under him, and many persons attrib- 
uted their conversion to his instrumentality. He was 
secretary of the district most of the time that he w^as 
on that mission. In the year 1833, he came to Nova 
Scotia, and was elevated to the chair of the district. 
Pie continued to occupy the chair of the Nova Scotia, 
then of the New Brunswick, district, and, after the 
formation of the Eastern British American Conference, 
of the several districts where he resided, until he was 
called to his reward. For the last three years of his 
life, he filled the office of co-delegate, and certainly 
would have been elected president had his life been 
spared. He made no pretensions to extensive literary 
attainments ; nevertheless he received the honorary 
title of D. D. He was a good preacher, an excellent 
pastor, a man of firm integrity, a kind father, and, as a 

21 



242 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Methodist preacher, was highly respected and useful in 
the various circuits in which he labored. He was the 
senior effective Methodist missionary in the world. He 
was a firm believer in the doctrine of Christian perfec- 
tion ; and, for years before his death, he professed to live 
in the enjoyment of the perfect love of God. His frame 
was athletic, a man of strong muscular powers, and 
through his whole life almost a strano-er to sickness. 
He continued to labor until within a few days of his 
end. On Sabbath, May 14th, he preached in Sack- 
ville ; on Monday and Tuesday, he attended the aca- 
demic exercises, but was taken very ill on Tuesday even- 
ing, and, on the twenty-third of the same month, he 
exchanged mortality for life. He died at Sackville, on 
the 23d of May, 1860, in the seventy-second year of his 
age, and the forty-fourth of his ministry. A few days 
before his death, he called his family around him, and 
charged them all to meet him in heaven. Just before he 
expired, he exclaimed, '' I see his glory, hallelujah ! " 

Such were the men who constituted the first Wes- 
leyan District in Newfoundland, — men who, while they 
preached the truth to others, themselves lived under its 
influence, and in death triumphed in its saving power. 
Over a large portion of the island had these heralds of 
the cross carried the standard of their Great Captain, 
and many had they enlisted into his service. In every 
circuit, classes had been formed. Sabbath schools organ- 
ized, and souls converted to God. Our membership 
in Newfoundland was then 670. 

The Wesleyan Church had now begun to assume 
large proportions, and to appear before the world in its 
true light, as a missionary church. Its missions were 
now planted in many different and distant lands ; and 
while the exalted talents of Richard Watson, Jabez 



RETURN OF MR. CUBITT. 243 

Bunting, Adam Clarke, Robert Newton, George Mor- 
ley, and a host of otlier gigantic minds, were arousing 
the churclies in England to their duty in reference to 
the world's conversion, at least one hundred mission- 
aries, sent out through their influence, were proclaiming, 
in various languages, the solemn verities of the ever- 
lasting gospel. 

In 1818, we had four misionaries in France ; we had 
missions on the Island of Ceylon, and Continental In- 
dia ; in New South Wales and Africa ; at Sierre 
Leone and Little Namacqualand ; in the West Indies, 
in the Canadas, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince 
Edward Island, and Newfoundland. The total mis- 
sionary membership was 23,573. The balance-sheet 
for the same year presented a missionary income of 
X 20,599 17s. 74^?. sterling. This was a large sum for 
our exchequer, considering that the society had only 
been organized five years. 

The Cln-istianity of our world is like the orbs of the 
solar system, which, while they all receive light from 
the sun, do reciprocally illuminate each other ; so every 
evangelical church, receiving its light from the Sun of 
Righteousness, must and will reflect that light to the 
*' regions beyond," and then farther into the deep re- 
cesses of moral darkness, until that darkness is entirely 
dissipated, and every land enjoys the light and the bless- 
ings of pure, Protestant Christianity. To the church is 
the injunction given, " Arise, shine, for thy light is 
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." 

The missionary baud in tlie Newfoundland District 
continued unbroken until about tlie month of January, 
1820, when Mr. Cubitt, on account of ill health, had 
to return to his native land. His brethren, however, 
continued to labor in their different circuits under 



24:4 NEVVFOUNDLAXD AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

many privations, but with much zeal and success. 
God was with them ; the people everywhere received 
them with kindness, and attentively listened to their 
instructions. Tlie fruit of their labors, in many in- 
stances, has already been apparent ; but the entire result 
thereof will only be known when tiie Great Head of 
the Church shall appear in the clouds of heaven to 
"judge the world in righteousness." 

In the year 1818, the population of the island was 
estimated at 90,000 souls, of whom about 40,000 were 
Protestants. Tiie Protestant population were scattered 
over a hue of coast, which, including the deep indents 
of the large bays, extended more than eight hundred 
miles. For the reliojious instruction of this laro;e and 
scattered body of peo})le, the agents of three missionary 
societies, and no more, were employed. Of these, the 
Wesleyans were the earliest in the field, and by far the 
most numerous. We had eleven missionaries, and oc- 
cupied different positions in five, out of the eight, large 
bays of the island. 

The second was the Cono;reo;ationalists. These had 
a respectable church in St. Johns, with the Rev. Mr. 
Sabine as pastor. There were also a few members of 
this church residino; in the harbor of Twillino;ate. 

The third was the " Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts." This society had five 
missionaries, viz. : St. Johns, Rev. Messrs. Rowland 
and Grantham; Harbor Grace, Rev. Mr. Carrington ; 
Trinity, Rev. Mr. Clinch ; and at Twillingate, Rev. 
Mr. Leio-h. Messrs. Rowland and Grantham soon 
after removed from the island, and Mr. Leigh went to 
England for a time ; so that in 1820 there were only 
two Episcopal clergymen. Rev. Mr. Carrington, who 
was now in St. Johns, and Rev. Mr. Clinch, in Trinity. 



OPPOSITION mOM EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 245 

Beside these two ministers, they had eleven persons 
called school-masters, some of whom were respectable 
men. These school-masters received from £10 to £20 
per annum for reading prayers on the Sabbath. This 
was the whole establishment of the Episcopal Church in 
the year 1820. 

From the Roman Catholics of Newfoundland we 
have never met with any formal opposition ; but we re- 
gret to say, it has been otherwise with the ministers of 
the Episcopal Church. The Wesleyans have never 
placed themselves in antagonism to the Church of Eng- 
land, and particularly did they in Newfoundland re- 
spect the ministers of the Church. But that respect was 
returned with contempt and ridicule, and even perse- 
cution when in their power. Did not the official pub- 
lications of the " Propagation Society " tend to this ? 
We give, as an example, an extract from the Report of 
the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts," for the year 1818, published in Lon- 
don. In that report, at page 46, when speaking of 
Trinity Bay, we have the followmg paragraph : — 

" The whole population of the bay is estimated at one thousand 
souls, and within a few years they were almost exclusively mem- 
bers of the Church of England ; but lately some fanatic preachers 
have made considiirable progress there, as well as in other parts." 

The compilers of that report ought to have informed 
themselves better, ere they made such a statement. 
Before Methodist preachers went to Old Perlican, the 
people of Trinity Bay were neither *' members of the 
Church of England," nor of any other church ; but 
were " without God," literally Atheists in the world ; 
nor did Methodist preachers obtrude upon Episcopal 
ground, as the above statement would show. 

We could afford to smile at the expression " fanatic 



246 .NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

preachers," when apphed to such men as George Cu- 
bit, Richard Knight, and others of our brethren whose 
powers of intellect were no way inferior to those who 
wrote that sentence, — only it was a sort of watchword 
for the persecution of the people. The Committee of 
the Society denounced their seniors in this field of 
■labor as " fanatics ; " and their agents must put down 
such fanaticism, whatever means they employ to ac- 
complish their purpose. Thus one clerical gentleman, 
in that same Trinity Bay, would show his superiority, 
by occasionally wearing his surplice among the fisher- 
men in the public path, and, with a portion of it gath- 
ered in his hand, would say, " See, I can wear a gown, 
but Methodist preachers are not authorized so to do." 
Another said to one of our friends, " How is it that you 
can give the preference to that Mr. Hickson (Brother 
James Hickson) wdio is ' so 7niicJi my inferior ' f " 
While a third called upon the father of two young 
ladies who had lately joined our church, and said to 
hnn, " It is your duty to prevent your daughters from 
going to the Methodist chapel, and make them come to 
the church." The kind father rephed, " Sir, I will do 
no such thing ; my daughters are old enough to think 
for themselves ; and, if they wish to go to the Method- 
ist chapel, I will not interfere with theft." 

But the most serious persecution occurred, a little 
later than this, in the Harbor of Bonavista. The auto- 
graph written at the time, and containing the details of 
this painful matter, now lies before me ; and, suppressing 
the names, I will give a condensed statement of the 
case. 

A certain clerical gentleman came to Bonavista to 
reside only for a time ; but his zeal was great against 
the fanatics, which zeal had been greatly excited by 



OPPOSITION FROM EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 247 

reading an article in an English Methodist magazine 
which chanced to fall into his hands. Just then, God 
had been pleased to bless us with a revival of religion, 
and among many others who were awakened was a 
married woman who had been an attendant at the 
Episcopal Church. The event excited the surprise of 
her friends, who said she was out of her senses. The 
doctor was called in, who said there was nothing the 
matter with her ; yet he thought that bleeding would do 
her good, so he cupped her in the back of the neck. 
The clergyman was sent for, and she told him she felt 
herself a sinner, and wished to learn the way to heaven. 
He said she was hypochondriacal; and if her friends 
would try and amuse her, or even take her out, and 
pelt her a little ivith snow-balls^ it would perhaps drive 
away her melancholy. The Wesleyan minister went 
to see her, and to him she spoke freely. She said she 
felt herself to be a guilty sinner, and wished to learn 
the way to heaven. As soon as his reverence heard 
that the Methodist preacher had been to see the woman, 
he wrote rather a singular note, from which we make 
the followinp; extracts : — 

" I have been told you have been to visit . I beg to be 

inforaied if it be true, and by whom you were sent for. Had I 
visited one of your flock when she was hypochondriacal, I should 
have considered myself guilty of impertinent interference. 

" With Mr. Wesley, I cannot ascribe these things hastily to God. 
I do not suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions, or revelations 
to come from God: they may be from him; they may be from na- 
ture; they may be from the devil. 

" Your obedient 

" John ." 

The missionary, on the evening of the same day that 
he received the above note, met the doctor, and asked 
him, " Does Mrs. P labor under any bodily dis- 



248 , NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

ease ? " He rej^lied, " No ; there is nothing tlie matter 
with her body : it is all mental, and arises from mistaken 
notions of relic/ion ; and, if she was my wife, I would 
flog he)' vjell.^' 

After this, her head was shaved and blistered ; her 
hands were tied ; and her cruel father actually flogged 
her. Still it was stated that nothing was the matter 
with her, but '' mistaken notions of religion." 

The Wesleyan minister was now peremptorily ex- 
cluded from the house ; but some of our female 
members contrived for a short time longer to see 
her. One of these ladies happened to go to the 
house just after her father had beaten her. She was 
standing at the door, and addressed our friend as 
she entered, '' Oh, how happy I am to see you ; see 
how I am treated, and there is nothing the matter 
with me, only I feel myself to be a sinner, and I 
want some one to tell me the way of salvation." 
Here the conversation was interrupted by her brother, 
who began to swear at her, and call her father to come 
again and flog her. 

Upon another occasion, three of our female members 
went in company to see her ; and the doctor was at the 
door, who reluctantly consented to their admission ; but 
gave them them this caution, " I have one thing to 
say, and that is, you must not speak to her on religious 
subjects." When they entered the room, she had a 
strait-jacket on, and a blister on her head. While 
they conversed on common topics, all went on well ; 
but, the moment they introduced religious conversation, 
they were interrupted, and she was threatened with 
confinement in a dark room. With much difficulty, 
they succeeded in getting permission to pray with her. 
This was the last time they could do so ; for, in the 



OPPOSITION FROM EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 249 

evening of the same day, tlie Rev. Mr. came in 

great wrath, and absolutely forbade that any '' more 
Me'thodists should be permitted to see her." 

The following Sabbath, one of our local preachers 
determined to make an effort to see her, as he was 
a distant relation. He went in the afternoon, while 
most of the family were at church ; but her father was 
at home, who admitted our friend with very great re- 
luctance. He stated that she was quite gentle, and 
had no appearance of gloom or melancholy ; but she 
still had on the strait-jacket, and ^ blister on her head. 
He inquired as to the state of her mind. She replied, 
'' I am a poor ignorant creature ; I feel I am a sinner, 
and nothincr but the blood of Christ can do me p-ood.'' 
Her father overheard the conversation, and came into 
the room, when our friend asked permission to pray 
with her. The abrupt reply was, " No ! " He re- 
monstrated, " Not pray with your daughter in her 
present state of mind ; that is cruel ! " The father re- 
plied, '' I have a minister of my own, and I do not 
wish to offend him." Our friend answered, " Re- 
member, while you are trying to avoid giving offence to 
your minister, you are sinning against God : the 
salvation of your daughter is at stake." '' Well, said" 
lie, " you should pray with her with all my heart ; 
but the Rev. Mr. was here last night, and he for- 
bids any person praying with her ; beside, they are 
now praying for her in the church." The poor woman 
in the end was compelled to yield, and was never after- 
ward permitted to enter a Methodist chapel. 

I will make no comment on the above ; only would 
assure the reader, that the statement was not compiled 
from a series of flying reports, but was taken down 
from the lips of the parties, on the respective days 
when the event occurred. 



2o0 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

In the year 1819, the Rev. George Cubit returned 
to England, and thus reduced the number of our mis- 
sionaries to ten. But, in the spring of 1820, the writer 
was sent to make up the number to eleven. He came 
from the London West Circuit, tlien under the super- 
intendency of the Rev. George Morley. He was 
ordained in Chelsea Chapel, London, April 5, 1820 ; 
left Liverpool on the 21st of the same month, and 
landed at Harbor Grace on Sabbath, May 21st. The 
district meeting commenced June 1st ; and his appoint- 
ment was St. Johns, under the superintendency of 
the Rev. John Pickavant. 

Newfoundland was still without any roads ; and, ex- 
cept in the vicinity of St. Johns, there was not 
a house anywhere one mile from the water-side. 
Three calamitous fires had reduced the town of St. 
Johns to great distress, from the effects of which 
it was now slowly recovering. The first fire has 
been noticed in this narrative. It occurred on the 
12th of February, 1816, and desolated a great part of 
the town. The property destroyed was said to exceed 
<£ 100,000 sterling ; beside which, some fifteen hun- 
dred human beings were left houseless and penniless 
amid the snow and storms of a Newfoundland winter. 
The second tire broke out on the niirht of November 
7th, 1817, which, in the short space of nine hours, 
destroyed thirteen mercantile establishments, well 
stocked with provisions, one hundred and forty 
dwelling-houses, and property to the amount of 
.£500,000 sterling. This was succeeded by a third 
tire, which happened on the 21st of the same montli, 
when several other wharves and stores, with tifty-six 
other dwelling-houses, were entirely consumed. 

These repeated fires produced great distress, and 



ARRIVAL OF REV. V^^ILLIAM VTTLSON. 251 

prevented the merchants from ordering supplies from 
Europe to the extent to which they had been ac- 
customed. Many of the inhabitants were in great 
want, and became desperate ; provision stores and 
private houses were broken open, both in St. Johns 
and Carbonear. The people of Conception Bay called 
the winter of 1817 the " winter of the rals," from a 
sort of watch-word which was used in these gatherings. 
When the writer of this arrived in his circuit, the 
town was . being rebuilt. A new chapel and mission- 
house had been erected, by the kind contributions of 
the friends of missions in various parts of Great 
Britain. St. Johns Circuit then comprised Portugal 
Cove, Torbay, and Petty Harbor. In the town, 
beside our usual services in the chapel, we, during 
summer, preached in the open air once a week at 
River Head and Magotty Cove. Portugal Cove 
is nine miles from St. Johns. There is now a good 
road to this place ; but then, for more than half way, 
it was a complete bog. Here we had a small society, 
and an excellent local preacher, Mr. Curtis, so that we 
visited this place but occasionally. The next place 
w^as Torbay, which is north from St. Johns, about 
seven miles. The path is mostly bog; but we thought 
little of the walk, as we were always rewarded with 
every kindness from the people, and had- the whole 
Protestant population as our regular hearers. Petty 
Harbor is nine miles south from St. Johns. For 
three fourths of the way, the path was over a series of 
high hills, many of them having an inclination of more 
than forty-five degrees, with large rocks and caverns al- 
most every step ; so that locomotion was necessarily very 
slow, and the labor very great to the wearied pedes- 
trian. The winter path was not so exhausting, as it 



252 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

lay mostly over ponds and level marshes. This was 
truly mission ground, where we both had to toil and 
suffer. Newfoundland is justly proverbial for its hos- 
pitality ; and, in the out-harbors, every house is, or may 
be, the stranger's home. Petty Harbor was an ex- 
ception. The people would come to hear us preach, 
but none would invite us to their table. We were 
accustomed to walk this terrible path on Sabbath 
morning early, preach twice, and teach a small 
sabbath school, remain without dinner, unless we 
took it with us, and return the same nine miles in 
the evening. Often has the writer been compelled 
to satisfy the cravings of hunger with a few berries 
plucked by the way-side. One Sabbath, Brother 
Pickavant walked this laborious eighteen miles, 
preached twice, and, having taken no food since the 
morning, he fainted as soon as he entered the Mission 
House. How merciful was the Redeemer, when he 
justified his disciples, who, being "• an hungred " on 
the " Sabbath day," began to pluck the ears of corn 
and to eat. When the winter came on, it was not 
possible to return on Sabbath evening: we therefore 
went on Saturday, and remained generally until Tues- 
day morning. Tlie writer had to sleep two, and some- 
times three, nights every fortnight, during the severe 
winter of 1820-1821, in an open loft, on a bed of 
shavings, with two horse-rugs for his covering. These 
labors were not in vain ; great good was done both in 
Torbay and Petty Harbor ; and, could those places 
have been attended in after years, we certainly should 
have seen much fruit : but the paucity of missionaries 
rendered it necessary for the district meeting, at its 
next meeting, to remove the second preacher from the 
St. Johns Circuit, when they had to be abandoned. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FIRST MISSIONARY REPORTS — USAGES OF THE PREACHERS — MISSION- 
ARY SECRETARIES — CIRCULARS — JABEZ BUNTING — JOSEPH TAY- 
LOR — RICHARD WATSON — GEORGE MORLEY — JOHN MASON — LACK 
OF SCHOOLS — NEWFOUNDLAND SCHOOL SOCIETY — REVIVAL IN OLD 
PERLICAN CIRCUIT — STATIONS FOR 1824 — ADAM NIGHTINGALE — 
JOHN BOYD. 

THE first two reports were made up to February 
1st ; the next four, to June 24th ; but, since the 
year 1820, our balanQe-sheet was not made up until the 
31st of December. The amounts for these years were 
as follows : — 

1814, amount of income to February 1, 

1815, " " " 

1816, " " to June 24, * 

1817, " " " " 

1818, " " " " 

1819, " " « " 

1820, " " to December 31, 

The number of our missionaries at the conference 
of 1821 was one hundred and thirty-two ; and our 
missionary membership, 28,699. 

The early missionary reports contain a mass of 
interesting matter, at which we need not be surprised, 
when we know that they arc the production of the 
giant mind of Richard Watson, a man who seemed 
to scan the world at a glance, and thoroughly to under- 
stand its state and its wants ; who knew the talent, 
the tact, and the necessities of every missionary in the 

22 (253) 



£ 


s.d. 


6,820 


2 5 


9554 


4 41 


12,565 


91 


19,933 


7 7| 


20,599 


17 71 


25,087 


9 8 


37,221 


15 9 



254 NEWFOUNDLAXD AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

field ; whose pulpit oratory, unsurpassed in a century, 
was always employed on behalf of missions ; whose 
pen put their enemies to silence ; whose theological 
productions will continue to benefit mankind to the 
latest period of time ; who did more, and with greater 
effect, toward the emancipation of slaves in the West 
Indies, than any otlier man in England, not in the 
Legislature ; whose life was a pattern of kindness, dili- 
gence, and piety ; whose end was peace ; and whose 
name will go down, with unblemished reputation, to 
unborn generations. 

Such was the character of one of the first secreta- 
ries of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society ; 
and his coadjutors, Jabez Bunting and Joseph Taylor, 
were truly kindred spirits with his own. 

The missionary committee, and especially the secre- 
taries, as soon as they entered office, found that they 
not only had to raise money for missionary purposes, 
but also that it was incumbent upon them to see that 
the moneys so raised should be properly expended. 
There were three usages among our first missionaries, 
which would now appear extremely strange. The 
first was, that every missionary had a separate and in- 
dividual right to draw bills for his own support, without 
any limit as to the amount of the bill. The confer- 
ence of 1815 put its veto upon this practice, by the 
foil owing minute : — 

" No missionary' in the "West Indies, Newfoundland, Nora Scotia, 
New Brunswick, Canada, or Bermuda, shall be permitted to 
draw a bill for more than fifty pounds at one time, without pre- 
vious advice and explanation of the extraordinary nature and 
circumstance of the case. No missionary, stationed in the East, 
shall be permitted to draw a bill for more than one hundred and 
fifty pounds at one time, without similar advice." 



MISSIONARY USAGES. 255 

The second usage was, the appropriation of moneys 
from the sale of books, sent by the book-steward, to the 
personal use of the missionaries. The conference also 
p,ut this right in 1816, by the following minute : — 

" That all our missionaries shall be personally responsible to the 
book-steward for all books which they may order from him for 
the purpose of sale at their respective stations. But they shall be 
left at liberty, at their several district-meetings, to apply the pro- 
duce of such sales, if they deem it expedient, to the payment of 
their ordinary deficiencies as missionaries, so far as it will go ; and 
shall pay the book-steward what they owe him, by sending him 
an order on the missionary treasurer in London, to the amount 
of those ordinary deficiencies, which they have received out of 
the book-money." 

The third usage was, they drew bills upon other 
persons beside the treasurers for their support. The 
conference of 1817 regulated this matter by the follow- 
ing resolution : — 

" That the missionaries shall be peremptorily prohibited from 
drawing bills, for missionary expenses, upon any other person than 
the general treasurers ; and that, in order to prevent any such 
irregularities, printed forms of bills shall be forwarded to each 
missionary station ; of which forms, and no others, the missiona- 
ries shall be required to make use, when they have occasion." 

Beside the above irregularities, the missionaries had 
no fixed allowance for either board or quarterage ; and 
it was truly amusing, at the district meeting, to hear the 
brethren read their circuit accounts, and name each 
article of food and clothino; that was made use of durincj 
the year. There was always somethino- in tlie account 
which must be struck out. This we called rasping. 
No matter what the brother himself thouglit of his 
account, it was sure to be rasped at the district meet- 
ing. One man would have had too much beef ; another 



256 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

was ratlier too expensive in sugar ; a third liacl a 
new coat when his old one would have lasted a little 
longer ; another wore out too many shoes ; and such a 
brother could not want so many pocket handkerchiefs 
as appeared on his bill. This matter engaged the early 
attention of the secretaries and missionary committee, 
who issued their first circular on March 31, 1819. 
This circular now lies before me, from which I will 
extract the second paragraph : — 

" It is highly desirable that a regular and proper scale of allow- 
ances of income should be established for the various missionaries 
in every part of the world, so as to provide them with what is 
sufficient for food, clothing, &c., in those places where they reside, 
accoi'ding to the necessary expense of living in each place. We 
are of opinion, also, that the allowance ought to be such as will 
render the missionaries and their families sufficiently comfortable, 
while engaged in their great and unportant work." 

The circular bears the signature of " Charles At- 
more, Chairman." 

The substance of this circular engao;ed the attention 
of the brethren in Newfoundland for some two years 
before they could agree as to the scale of allowance 
they would request the committee to make for their 
district. Brother John Walsh took an active part in 
this matter. He carefully ascertained the expenses of 
each circuit in the district ; calculated what clothes each 
brother would require; and, making allowances for mis- 
cellaneous and incidental expenses, he drew up a scale 
of allowance, and presented it at the district of 1822, 
which, being sanctioned by tlie missionary committee, 
formed the scale of allowance which, with some trifling 
alteration, has been observed to the present time. 

Beside the above circular, the secretaries were ac- 
customed, a few days after the close of conference, to 



SECRETARIES. 257 

send " an annual circular" to each missionary, giving 
a condensed view of the proceedings of the conference, 
the state of the connection, the state of the different 
funds, with instructions to the missionaries on particu- 
lar topics, and other information of great value and im- 
portance to the missionaries at that time, as neither the 
" Wesley an " nor the " Watchman " then existed ; and 
particularly were these circulars valued in the distant 
stations of this mission, where, for six months of the 
year, we never saw a newspaper, or received a letter. 

The substance of these circulars was, in the year 
1832, put in the form of a small volume, called " An 
Appendix to the General Instructions of the Missionary 
Committee, for the private use of the Missionaries." 
From this little volume, we shall make one extract, 
because it will always be of importance to the right 
working of our itinerancy. The heading is, " Sohtary 
Stations: " — 

" Several of the districts, and especially those in British North 
America and Newfoundland, are divided almost enth-ely in solitary 
stations, in consequence of which many circuits are unavoidably 
intrusted to the superintendence of young men, with little experi- 
ence in the disciphne of Methodism, to the great detriment of the 
societies, and to the hinderance of the work of God. We would 
recommend to the chairmen and brethren of districts so circum- 
stanced, to turn their attention to a union or re-arrangement of 
their circuits, so that two preachers may, as far as practicable, be 
stationed together ; and the young men be thus placed, as long as 
needful, under the direction of the senior brethren." 

We shall here give a biographical sketch of our mis- 
sionary secretaries, that the reader may form a judg- 
ment of the men who guided our missionary concerns 
in their lirst movements, and by whose judicious man- 
agement, at that early time, is, under God, mainly 

22* 



258 . NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

owing the present reputation and wide-spread influence 
of the Wedeyan Methodist Missionary Society ^ 

The secretaries were Jabez Bunting, Joseph Taylor, 
and Ricliard Watson. 

Jabez Bunting, d. d., was senior secretary. He was 
a man of deep piety, of singularly quick apprehension 
of mind ; while his judgment was acute, discriminating, 
comprehensive, and far seeing. At the first missionary 
meeting, which was held in Leeds, October 6, 1813, he 
was only of fourteen years' Methodistic standing ; but, 
from that period, he held a prominent position in all the 
institutions of Metliodism, — defending those institutions 
wlien attacked by their enemies, and sustaining the 
connection itself by his wisdom and humility, when, by 
some of its unfaithful -members, it was threatened with 
division and annihilation. The " British and Foreign 
Bible Society," the " Anti-slavery Society," and the 
" Evangelical Alliance," all had the benefit of his 
wise counsel and advocacy. As a preacher, his ser- 
mons always overflowed with rich evangelical senti- 
ments ; his exposition of Scripture was clear and in- 
structive ; his statement of doctrine was preeminently 
scriptural, striking, and simple, and delivered with an 
eloquence, a pathos, and an effect that attracted multi- 
tudes to every place where he officiated. On the mis- 
sionary platform, his speeches told upon the listening 
multitudes, who were thereby led cheerfully to give of 
their substance, in order to send the gospel of salvation 
to the " ends of the earth." 

Upon one occasion, when our income was only mod- 
erate, he gave it as his decided opinion, that the re- 
sources of Methodism were sufficiently ample to raise 
jifty thousand pounds annually for missionary purposes. 
Some of his best friends were sceptical on this ; while to 



REV. JOSEPH TAYLOR. 259 

those outside, the idea of the Wesleyan Church raising 
fifty thousand per annum for the mission fund was treated 
with ridicule, or considered as only the raving of a fanat- 
ic or a madman. But time proved that his opinion was 
correct, and that, from his knowledge of the means and 
minds of our people, he reasoned, a priori^ what they 
could and would do, when the wants of the world were 
made known to them, and their duty in the case made 
plain and clear. There was indeed a " massive gran- 
deur " in Jabez Bunting, such as does not ordinarily per- 
tain to mortals : he was a " Prince in our Israel." He 
died in " perfect peace," crying " Victory, victory, 
through the blood of the Lamb." 

Joseph Taylor was the first resident secretary at 
the Mission House, Hatton Garden, London ; to which 
office he was appointed by the conference of 1818. He 
had been a missionary, and spent eight years of his life 
in missionar}^ toil among the negroes of the West Indies. 
His talents were not so splendid as those of his col- 
leagues in the secretariat ; but he was a kind, a wise, 
and holy man. To him pertained the duty of class- 
leader to the missionaries in London, before they left 
for their respective destinations. For the space of four 
months, the writer had the privilege of meeting in his 
missionary class, before he left for his station in New- 
foundland. Mr. Taylor was most diligent and laborious 
in his office, and acted as a kind father to the mission- 
aries, who loved him sincerely. After six years of 
faithful service in the secretaryslp'p, he went out again 
in the regular work, and continued to labor until the 
year 1845, when, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, 
he was called to his reward. Just before he died, he 
exclaimed, " I am on the rock, and all is right : I have 
fought my way through, and the Saviour is with me." 



260 , NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Riclmrd Watson was one of the brightest ornaments 
that ever adorned the Wesleyan, or any other church 
in Christendom. He possessed a range and brilHancv 
of thought, with a grasp of intellectual powers, that sel- 
dom fall to the lot of mortals. '' To his understand in o; 
belonged a capacity which the greatness of a subject 
could not exceed ; a strength and clearness which num- 
ber and complexity of its parts could not confuse ; and 
a vigor which the difficulty and length of an inquiry could 
not weary." It was the high privilege of the writer to 
sit under the ministry of this distinguished man for 
three years ; and although it is now more than forty 
years ago, yet the recollection of him is still clear and 
vivid. His person was tall, his countenance pale, and 
his general appearance that of a man in ill health. 
When he entered the pulpit, there was a solemnity in 
his manner that affected the whole congregation. In 
reading the Scriptures, he was very impressive ; his style 
of reading our hymns was peculiarly poetic ; and his fine 
musical ear required that the tune should be always de- 
votional, and suited to the sentiment of the hymn. 
Upon one occasion, in Lambeth Chapel, London, he 
gave out the hymn on page 251 : — 

" A thousand oracles divine, 
Their common beams unite, 
That sinners may with angels join, 
To worship God aright." 

The choir struck up the tune called, " Acton," in 
Rippon's collection. Mr. Watson thought that tune 
so unsuitable to the hymn, that, at the end of the first 
verse, he addressed the choir in these words, '* I never 
did, and I never will, suffer a Christian congregation to 
be thus insulted." He closed the hymn-book, engaged 
hi prayer, and dismissed the congregation. 



REV. RICHARD WATSON. 261 

In the pulpit, he stood erect, ahnost hke a statue : his 
action seldom went beyond a slight motion of the right 
hand, or a significant shake of the head. The subjects 
on which he delighted to dwell were the depravity of 
man, the divinity of Christ, the great atonement, with 
the extent and freedom of the gospel salvation. To 
the explanation and elucidation of these great subjects, 
would he bring all the vast powers of his master mind. 
Havino; mven the sense of his text with his usual criti- 
cal acumen, by which the most familiar topics of theol- 
ogy would often appear in a new light, or be clothed 
with fresh interest, in the pure emanation of his soul, 
he would soar to themes lofty and sublime ; grasp in the 
rancre of his thouo-ht the whole scheme of human re- 
demption ; scan the attributes of Deity with a mind al- 
most superhuman ; or seem to fathom the joys of the 
hymning multitude before the throne of God. 

As a writer, no man since the days of John Wesley 
has done the Wesleyan Church greater service than 
Richard Watson. In the inflmcy of our missionary ex- 
istence, 1816, Mr. Barham, M. P. for Stockbridge, in 
the House of Commons, attacked the Methodist mis- 
sionaries in the West Indies, and said, that, " under a 
mask of religion, they inculcated jorinciples of sedition." 
This produced from the pen of Mr. Watson, " A De- 
fence or THE Wesleyan Methodist Missions in the 
West Indies." This silenced the slanderer, and 
brought a compliment from his Majesty's Government, 
through Lord Castlereagh, to the effect, " That there 
lay no charge whatever against the missionaries who 
had been slandered so harshly by name." In 1819, Mr. 
Watson wrote " The Instructions to the Wesleyan 
Missionaries," a copy of which now lies before the 
writer, which he received at his ordination, and which 



262 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

bears tlie autograph signatures of Jabez Bunting, Jo- 
seph Taylor, and Richard Watson. 

These Instructions did the writer often peruse with 
much profit wliile on the Newfoundland mission. In 
1820, Mr. Watson published his " Observations on 
Southey's Life of Wesley." 

The Wesleyan Catechisms are the production of his 
pen, by which our children are in early years taught 
the principles of a sound theology, and are made thor- 
oughly acquainted with all the leading facts of the Bible. 
His " Conversations for the Young " amuse and instruct 
our youth ; while his Theological Institutes and his 
Theological Dictionary supply our church with a body 
of divinity, which, for scriptural accuracy, distinctness 
of thought, and elevation of style, is unsurpassed by any 
theological writings the Christian Church has ever pro- 
duced since the days of the apostles. 

We shall close this sketch by the following quota- 
tion from the minutes of the British Conference for 
1833 : — 



" In his last affliction, he was greatly honored of God ; and per- 
haps the closing scene of no saint's life ever furnished lessons of 
richer instruction. On the approach of death, he viewed it as a 
foe, and felt it to be an evil ; he was humbled that a man should 
be stricken and trampled into the grave by the last enemy, and 
when, as in his own case, his faculties were in their prime, and his 
mind meditating and revolving plans of usefulness to the world. 
It was the glorious hope and Christian assurance of perfect bliss af- 
ter death and beyond the grave that enabled him to triumph ; 
and his triumph was complete. Through the grace of his Divine 
Saviour, with his characteristic strength of mind, he grasped and 
applied his Christian principles ; and they sustained his faith in his 
walk through ' the valley of the shadow of death.' ' I am a poor 
vile worm,' said he ; ' but then the worm is permitted to crawl out 
of the earth into the garden of the Lord.' 



REV. GEORGE MORLEY. * 263 

' I shall behold his face, 

I shall his power adore ; 
And sing the wonders of his gi'ace 

For evermore.' 
" Thus confident, he waited until his Master's call spoke him up 
to heaven. As a man, he was of a noble mind, superior through 
life to everything mean and little ; he was magnanimous, disin- 
terested, generous. His form was dignified, and his countenance 
bore striking expressions of his intellectual gi-eatness. His ele- 
vated views, and the majesty of his character, impressed a dignity 
on his manners which the kindness of his temper, and his general 
readiness to oblige, rendered particularly easy and graceful. As 
a friend, he extorted no servile homage as the price of his friend- 
ship. If there were times when he was too much engaged in 
thought to exhibit more than common fervor of affection, there 
were others, which occurred far more frequently, when he gave 
himself freely to his friends, and then his conversation never 
failed to instruct and charm. This bright luminary of the church 
and of his circle set in death, to rise in glory, January 8th, 1833. 
He died in the fifty-second year of his age." 

In the year 1824, a change took place in our mission- 
ary secretaries. Mr. Bunting removed to the Man- 
chester South Circuit, and Mr. Taylor, having served 
his term, also retired from his onerous position of resi- 
dent secretary. Our missionary secretaries now were 
George Morley, Richard Watson, and John Mason. 
All these excellent men are now recorded on our death- 
roll. While they lived, they not only performed the 
various duties incumbent upon them as Christian 
ministers with great faithfulness and zeal, but they 
also, in other ways, labored hard for the benefit of their 
fellow-men, and particularly for the spread of Scriptural 
knowledge, and the extension of missions over every 
part of the world. 

George Morley. The name of this excellent min- 
ister will be recorded in the annals of Methodism, as 
long as time shall last, as the originator of a movement 
which led to the formation of the present financial plan 



264 NEWFOUNDLA^^D AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

of our missions, by wliicli tliey have become so wide- 
spread in their influence, and so vastly beneficial in 
their' results. He had been on terms of intimacy with 
Dr. Coke, and liad seen how that apostolic man had la- 
bored and begged from door to door to obtain means 
for the support of missionaries in foreign lands ; but in 
the year 1813, the doctor and his little missionary band 
were a])pointed to India ; when Mr. Morley saw that 
sometliing more must be done by the connection for 
the mission cause than had yet been done, or it would 
dwindle and die. He was then superintendent of the 
Leeds Circuit ; and his colleaojues were Jabez Bunting 
and Robert Filter. In Wakefield, an adjacent circuit, 
were found two kindred spirits, in James Buckley and 
Richard Watson. These brethren, after much con- 
sultation and prayer, appointed Mr. Buckley to preach 
the first missionary sermon in the village of Armley ; 
and Mr. Bunting having prepared the plan, the first 
pubhc Methodist missionary meeting was lield in the 
old chapel at Leeds, in the afternoon of October 
6th, 1813. Thomas Thompson, Esq., M. P., a most ac- 
ceptable local preacher, presided upon the occasion. 
Though the plan was matured by Mr. Bunting, yet it 
was Mr. Morley that suggested the idea of employing 
collectors to raise weekly, monthly, quarterly, and an- 
nual subscriptions, in aid of Methodist missions. Five 
years after the formation of the Leeds Missionary Soci- 
ety, which was the year 1818, Mr. Morley was ap- 
pointed to the London West Circuit, when the writer of 
this article had the pleasure of having him as his super- 
intendent; and he records with thankfulness, that to 
the judicious counsels and fatherly instructions of the 
Rev. George Morley, he owes his present position in the 
Wesleyan connection. He was resident secretary for 
our mission, six years ; and those of us who had the 



REV. JOHN MASON. 265 

honor of lils correspondence were always encouraged 
by his letters and instructed by his advice. He ex- 
changed mortality for life on the 10th of September, 
1843. A little while before he died, he said, with 
great emphasis, " I gave myself to God and to God's 
people threescore years ago, and he has never left me. 
He is with me now, and he will never leave nor forsake 
me." The minutes of conference say of him, " His 
life was one of perpetual sunshine. He was emphati- 
cally a happy man ; and his end perfectly accorded 
with the tenor of his life." 

John Mason was tlie junior missionary secretary, 
which situation he filled with kindness to the missiona- 
ries for three years, when he was called to the impor- 
tant and responsible office of book-steward. He con- 
tinued in that office for thirty-seven years, during 
which time he circulated an immense amount of Chris- 
tian literature, from whence large profits were derived ; 
which profits were appropriated to the support of aged 
and worn-out ministers, and ministers' widows. From 
six to ten tons of books would sometimes be sent from 
the book-room in one month. Mr. Mason died in 
peace on the 1st of March, 1884, in the eighty-second 
year of his age, and fifty-third of his ministry. 

The first official circular, bearing the signatures of 
the before-named secretaries, reached the writer in the 
month of October, 1824. He was then stationed in 
Port de Grave. We sliall quote the last paragraph 
from this circular, w^hich shows the deep anxiety the 
committee felt that their missionaries should all be able 
ministers of the New Testament. It reads : — 

" Study to be ' workmen who need not to be ashamed.' By 
careful reading, increase your knowledge of the Scriptures ; dis« 



2C)6 NEWFOUNDT-AND AND ITS MISSTONAT^TES. 

tribute the truths tliey contain with plainness of speech, with ear- 
nestness, and alleetionate ieelinix. He who makes preaehinjj; a 
niero (lochinjatiou iVom a text ot' Scripture will often be barren 
in himself, and unprofitable to others; but he who feels that it is 
liis business to display the truth of God in his discourses, and who 
confirms and illustrates what he advocates by well-chosen and 
deai'ly-cxplained texts, will find his preaching salutary to his own 
lieart, and it will give spirit and life to others. ' Let the won! of 
God then dwell in you lirhly ; and from that fidness you will bo 
able to minister to the wants of others.'" 

The kind ami style of i-iroacliino- rocommcMidocl by 
our sceretarios can never f:iil of doing good ; and it may 
be inferred, as a general thing, that Methodist mission- 
aries in dill'erent parts of the \vorld adhere to these 
instructions, whieh is the grand secret of their success 
in their respective stations. 

The paucity of schools, and in consequence the great 
ignorance that prevailed among the people, was a mat- 
ter of much concern and anxiety to the early mission- 
aries in Newfoundland. 

Along the whole north shore, where there were some 
thousands of iidiabitants, there was not a school of any 
kind, exce])t our Sabbath schools ; and while the })eople 
would willingly have ])aid for the education of their 
children, yet no competent teacher could then be found. 
To select Black lleail as an exam})le : down as late as 
the year 1820, there never had been a day-school in 
that large and interesting community. 

Mr. Walsh, who was then stationed on the Black- 
Head Circuit, brouglit this jirominently before the mis- 
sionary connnittee, in a letter dated Black Head, Oct. 20, 
1819. From this letter we make the ibllowing extract : — 

" Only a few iu my circuit are able to read the Word of God. 
It often draws from my heart a sigh of pity, when I look round me 
from the pulpit, and see so many of them unable to take up a hynm 



NEED OF SCHOOLS. 2^)7 

or prayer })0()k, to jfiiii in IIk; worsliip of (jlod. If you consider tlio 
circumHtaiiccH in wliicli these i)eoi)le are placed, you will with me 
conclude, that this want of common learning does not arise fiom 
incapacity, Ijut fi-om d(!stitution of means and opportunity. If I 
am ri;^htly inform(;d, there never was one pei'son or place wholly 
devoted to the instruction of th(; rising generation In this circuit. 
In no place, I think, could a mission day-school be established 
with greater probability of success than at this station. Ilari wcj 
a pious young man, with moderate abilities, fixed here as a s(;hool- 
master, under the superintendence of the missionary, I have no 
doubt a hundred children would be immediately collected, and 
their parents would contribute gladly to the suj>port of such a 
master. But in this country such a person is not to be fJjund. 
Could you provide this station with a person who would engage; 
to instruct these dear childi-en to r(;ad tlu; Word of Life, you 
would bestow upon th(;m the n(;xt great favor to those you have 
already bestowed, in giving them the word and ministry of recon- 
ciliation." 

However much the missionary committee ml^lit wish 
to send a staff' of scliool-masters to Newfoundland, such 
an appropriation of their funds would scarcely have 
been compatible with their object, which was simply to 
supply the country with an evan;:relical ministry. Be- 
side wliich, the report for 1821 showed an excess of 
expenditure above tli(; incoinf; of X7508 ij.^. lOd. 

For many years had tlie establishment of day-sclir>oIs 
in di(f('i-ent j)arts of the land been a f^reat d(;sid(M-atiiin, 
both with the missionaries and also with the more in- 
telligent among their congregations ; and, in the year 
1823, it was for a time thought their views would be 
met, and their expectations fully realized, by the institu- 
tion of the Newfoundland School Society. 

Some of the agents of this society claimed for it a 
liberal and evangelical character ; and while it was said 
the masters were expected to be members of the Church 
of England, yet the Wesleyans, who were the only 



268 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

nonconformist body on the island, would have equal 
rights with their Episcopalian neighbors in all matters 
appertaining to the school. Several of the missionaries, 
in consequence, took deep interest in these schools ; and 
our committee paid twenty pounds a year, for several 
years, toward their funds. Schools were soon estab- 
lished in St. Johns, Harbor Grace, Trinity, Bonavista, 
and other places, in which our people heartily united. 
But in time it changed its name, and took the title of 
the Church-of-England School Society for Newfound- 
land and the Colonies. Our people from henceforth 
were debarred all management or control in the schools, 
which now became decidedly Church-of-England schools. 
Persecution, also, was not quite kept out of the way 
in the matter. In the Northern Harbor, when prepa- 
rations were beino; made for the erection of a school- 
house, some things not appearing quite clear, as to the 
management of the school when it should commence 
operations, one of the merchants said to the writer, " If 
Mrs. A. and Mr. B. and I were determined, we could 
make the people build the school, /6>r we have tMm com- 
2)letely under us. I could therefore go to a family man 
and say, ' Go, and haul me a stick fo.r the school ; ' and I 
could order others who were handy to go to work in 
putting up the building. They dare not refuse us ; and 
they would say, ^ We must go, or he will not let us have 
a half gallon of molasses when we want it.' " The 
magistrate in the same place went much farther than 
our merchants, for he considered he had the power in 
himself to tax the people for the school-house; and, in 
his ]jro rata tax, he sent to a poor Roman Catholic man, 
and threatened to put him in jail if he did not pay ten 
shillings toward this school ; and it was only when the 
writer informed the? magistrate that he would lay the 



GREAT RE\T.VAL. 269 

whole matter before the government, that he gave up 
his arbitrary proceedings. 

This society is now professedly a Church-of-England 
institution, and we cheerfully yield its meed of praise. 
It has established schools in many destitute parts of the 
island ; it has taught many thousands to read, who, 
but for it, would have been brought up in entire igno- 
rance ; it has circulated Bibles, prayer-books, religious 
tracts, and other books of moral and rehgious tendency ; 
and its teachers, beside attending to their duties in 
schools, have visited the sick and the dying, and have 
done much good among the people. In the year 1849, 
it reported 40 schools and 2,734 scholars. It had also 
extended its operations into Canada. Its receipts for 
that year were .£1937 14s. 

Near the close of the j'ear 1819, and at the com- 
mencement of 1820, there was a great revival in the 
"Island Cove and Perlican Circuit," under the min- 
istry of the Rev. James Hickson. We will give a few 
extracts from the journal of this excellent missionary, 
as published in the Methodist Magazine for 1820 : — 

''Dec. 27th. We had a powerful season in the men's class: 
two received the blessing of pardon, and many others went away 
pleading for mercy. We in the kingdom of grace, and angels in 
the kingdom of glory, gladly sing, ' The dead's ahve ; the lost 
is found.' We have many in this society (Old Perlican), but few 
had received the ' spirit of adoption.' The danger of living and 
dying without the Spirit's witness urged me to fast, and ardently 
to pray for the baptism of the Spirit. Glory be to God, to-night 
I had an answer of prayer. 

" 30th. This night, two females were born of the Spirit. It 
was the first time of their meeting in our society. INIy soul had a 
new baptism of the Spirit, and seemed as if it would have left the 
body, while agonizing for the mourners in Zion. I felt more than 
ever the truth of that saying, ' God is love.' 

" Jan. 3d, 1820. Found much joy in visiting different families, 



270 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

but the greatest in meeting one of the classes. There was, indeed, 
.a shaking among the ' dry bones.' Many were crying, from the 
very bitterness of their souls, ' Thou Son of David, have mercy on 
me.' And after continuing long in prayer, the Lord bound up 
four broken hearts. 

" Sabbath, 9th. Island Cove. Preached twice; but the power of 
God was most evident at night, in the prayer-meeting. Many 
wept aloud. On Monday night, in the men's class, we had one 
more in number. I pressed them more especially now, not to 
rest without a clear sense of the pardoning love of God ; and it 
was not in vain, for the hearts of many were broken, and they 
cried bitterly for mercy. We remained with them in prayer for 
some time. The next night many were pricked in the heart. In 
the class, on Thursday, there was one much tempted of Satan, and 
did not find deliverance ; but God sent his Spirit into the heart of 
another, crying, ' Abba, Father.' The day following, we had an 
increase of another member and another believer. 

" Sabbath, 30th. Old Perlican. Had much divine help, in 
preaching three times to this people. I had a seal to my minis- 
try, a soul for my hire, while crying, ' Agree with thine adversary 
quickly.' He was seventy years old, and had been thirty years a 
member of the Methodist Society. He was always strictly moral, 
but an utter stranger to experimental godliness, till one and another 
were enabled to stand forth as witnesses that God has power on 
eaj'th to forgive sins. This shook his sandy foundation : he had 
read his Bible much, and satisfied himself with that. But now it 
became to him as a two-edged sword : his castles in the air were 
all destroyed, and he had no refuge but Christ. Now Jesus tilled 
his heart with joy, and he published it to all around. He became 
an ' epistle, read and known of all men.' There is a danger of 
our societies consisting of merely moral but unconverted charac- 
ters. Hence it becomes necessary, even among our own people, 
to ' cry aloud and spare not ; ' for our mission is not to make ' al- 
most Christian,' but Christians altogether." 

This revival continued for more than two months, 
during which time every part of the circuit was visited 
with this gracious influence. In Hants Harbor alone, 
near fifty souls were brought to God in about a fort- 
night. On this Mr. Hickson writes : — 



REY. ADAM NIGHTINGALE. 271 

" AVednesday, Feb. 23. ' What hath God wrought. AVhcn I 
came to this place on the 9th, the number In society was forty ; 
now it is ninety, seventy of whom enjoy the pardoning love of 
God." 

It was the happiness of the writer to follow brother 
James Hickson in that circuit, the very next year 
(1821) ; and, were it necessary, he would bear his 
humble testimony to the reality and extent of that 
great revival. 

In the minutes for 1823, the stations for the New- 
foundland District stand thus : — 

St. Johns — John Walsh. 

Carbonear — Thomas Hickson. 

Harbor Grace — John Pickavant. 

Black Head and Western Bay — Ninian Barr. 

Island Cove and Perlican — Adam Nightingale. 

Port de Grave — Richard Knight. 

BoNAVisTA AND Catalina — James Hickson. 

Trinity Harbor — John Boyd. 

Grand Bank and Fortune Bay — William Wilson. 

Burin — William Ellis. 

Brigus — John Haigh. 

Brother Nightingale has now (1864) spent forty- 
two years on the Newfoundland mission, which in- 
cludes the whole of his missionary life. He has 
*' borne the burden and heat of the day;" he has 
travelled its wastes and its wilderness when horses 
were not used, and when roads were unknown ; he 
has had to ford its streams, and drag his weary limbs 
over its extensive marshes ; to take his refreshment by 
the purhng brook in the dark woods, or untie his 
nunny-bag on its bleak and snow-clad barrens ; and 
more than once has he made his bed on the snow, and 
there passed a long and dreary night in the midst of a 



272 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSION ARIES. 

Newroundland Avinter. He has seen that country as 
a Ci'own colony ; and he has sec«i it with its halls of 
leo-islatuve : he remembers the formation of its first 
road ; and he has seen it with its macadamized high- 
ways, its studs of horses, and its beautiful carriages ; 
with steamboats, not only for local travelling, but also 
for communication with other colonies and with Eu- 
rope : he has seen its rocky potato-garden by the sea- 
side, as the sole token of agriculture in a community ; 
and he has seen its cultivated acres bowing their golden 
plumes to the passing stranger, and yielding their fari- 
naceous substance as food for man and for beast : he 
has seen its communities without education, and their 
children without schools ; and he has seen the " school- 
master abroad," academies founded, the children in- 
structed, the people rescued from ignorance, and their 
minds imbued with knowledge, religious, scientific, and 
general ; and, above all, he has seen many souls con- 
verted to God, and Methodism increase from 973, the 
number of its members when he landed on its shores, 
to 3231, the number as returned at the conference of 
1863. After being engaged in the active work for 
thirty-seven yeai-s, he sat down as a supernumerary in 
the year 1859 ; and he still lives, and labors occasion- 
ally. May God bless that dear brother in his old age, 
and may his end be perfect peace. 

John Boyd labored in Newfoundland from 1822 to 
1831, when he returned to England ; and, in the year 
1863, he was still in the active work. His station then 
was Glossop, in the Manchester and Bolton District. 



CHAPTER X 



SEALS AND THE SEAL-FISHERY — VARIETIES OF THE SEAL — OUTFIT OF 
THE SEALEUS —RELIGIOUS SERVICES — ANECDOTE — METHOD OF 
TAKING SEALS — SABBATH-BREAKING AT THE ICE — RETURN OF VES- 
SELS — NUMBER OF SEALS TAKEN — NUMBER OF VESSELS EMPLOYED 
— SIZE AND CHARACTER OF SEALING-VESSELS. 



SEALS AND THE SEAL-FISHERY. 

THREE species of seal are found upon the Newfound- 
land coast, — the square flipper, the hood, and the 
hai'p. The square flipper is said to be identical with 
tlie great Greenland seal. This animal sometimes at- 
tains a length of sixteen or eighteen feet : it, however, 
is but seldom seen, and must be shot before captured. 
The hood is met with much more frequently, and is 
called the hood from a large piece of loose skin on tlie 
head, which it can inflate at pleasure. But it should be 
stated that the male seal only has the hood. The fe- 
male has no such appendage. This seal is not so large 
as the square flipper ; nevertheless, it is often found 
twelv^e or fourteen feet in length. The young hoods 
are called blue-backs. They are found far to the north, 
and generally near the outer edge of the ice. The 
male and female are mostly found together, and the ob- 
ject of the hunters is to kill the dog-seal first ; if they 
succeed, the female is easily killed ; but, if she should be 
first killed, the dog becomes furious. He instantly in- 
flates his hood, wdiich covers his face ; his nostrils be- 
come distended like bladders ; his whole appearance is 

(273; 



274 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

terrific and lie rushes on his assailants with great im- 
petuosity. To strike him on the hood is useless, and 
he will snap the gaffs in the men's hands, and break 
them as though they were cabbage-stumps. A blow on 
the nose will kill the seal ; but, if that fails, It is most 
tenacious of hfe, and, unless the heart can be reached 
with a musket-ball, it can scarcely be slain. Instances 
have occurrc'd where the hunter has been seriously 
wounded, and even killed, by an old hood. I once 
heard an old seal-hunter give a graphic account of an 
encounter he and a friend had with an old hood. 
There were only two men in company : they came up 
with a pair of hoods, and Imprudently killed the female. 
The dog-seal inflated his hood, and attacked them with 
tremendous fury. Escape was impossible ; so they stood 
striking him with their gaffs until they both became ex- 
hausted. At length one of them said, we must make a 
desperate effort, or we shall both be killed. Keep him 
in abeyance as well as you can, and I will make the 
eftbrt. He then opened his jack-knife, rushed upon the 
furious animal, and stuck the knife into the hood, when 
the air instantly escaped, and a blow from the gaff of 
his friend felled the monster on the Ice. 

The seal most frequent upon the coast is the harp, 
sometimes called the half-moon. It receives the name 
harp from a large black or dark spot on the back of the 
old doii-seal ; but the female has no such mark. This 
seal, when very young, is called a white-coat ; when one 
year old. It is a bedlamer ; afterward, a harp. The 
northern seas, between Labrador and Greenland, is 
the home of the harp. 

In the month of February, the field-ice from these 
seas comes In immense masses upon the north-east coast 
of Newfoundland. Some days before the ice is actually 



THE SEAL-FISHERY. 275 

seen, its approach can be descried from the shore by 
its ghm, or the reflection of hght wliich it throws into 
the atmosphere when the night is dark. Upon this ice, 
the harps whelp, and the dams seem all to whelp about 
the same time, as millions of white-coats are found 
upon the ice, and all about the same age. From the 
twentieth to the last of February is the whelping time ; 
and the ice about that time is generally in the drift of 
White Bay, or the Bay of Exploits. 

The young cubs are called " white-coats," because 
they are covered with a white fur, sliglitly tinged with 
yellow. The appearance of the " white-coats " on the 
ice has not inaptly been compared to young lambs in a 
meadow ; but they are far more numerous, as tens of 
thousands of them may be seen in every direction, bask- 
ing in the sun's rays. The seal is called the sea-dog, 
because it barks and howls like a dog. Sometimes 
these young " white-coats," when weakly, will be found 
frozen in the ice, when the hunters call them *' cats." 
The skins of these " cats " are not good as an article 
of merchandise ; but they are brought home to make 
caps for the next sealing-voyage. The young seals 
grow very rapidly, and in about three weeks their 
white coat changes, and a darker fur comes in its place ; 
after which they take the w^ater with their parent, and 
are more difficult to catch. 

In the commencement of the seal-fishery, large boats 
were used, which did not sail until about the middle of 
April. But the whelping ice had passed many weeks 
before this, so that no young seals could be found : their 
catch was therefore necessarily small, and mostly con- 
fined to the stray seals, called " rangers," which were 
shot in the water. The boat-sealing continued down 
as late as the year 1795, when the whole catch of seals 



276 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

for the Island was 4,900 ; not as many as is now taken 
sometimes by a single vessel. 

In the commencement of the present century, the 
sealing-boats gave way to small schooners of some thir- 
ty to iifty tons' burden ; and they sailed about the twen- 
ty-first of March. They sailed thus late to avoid the 
equinoctial gales, or, as the saying was, " We wait until 
after Saint Patrick's brush ; " or until " Saint Patrick 
takes the cold stone out of the water." But this 
Avas too late to get the young seals ; yet, as they would 
meet with some ice at that time, the catch was greatly 
increased. Thus, in the year 1820, the catch was 
increased to 221,334. 

The seal-fishery was destined to be one great source 
of wealth to the country, and to assume proportions 
wdiich the most sanguine could never have anticipated ; 
for its humble sealing-boats were to give place to vessels 
of from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons, and to 
be manned with crews of from twenty-five to forty 
men : while the interest of every individual to the north 
of St. Johns, from the richest to the poorest, was to be 
so interwoven with it, that its prosecution and results 
should cause more speculation, more anxiety, more ex- 
citement and solicitude, than perhaps does any other 
single branch of business in any part of the world. 

The length of time spent in seal ing-voy ages is from 
three to eight weeks. The medium length is five 
weeks. The owner of the vessel supplies her with 
provisions, and all other necessaries, for which he claims 
one half the catch of seals. He also receives a certain 
amount from each man for his berth in the vessel. 
The price of the berth varies from ten shillings to two 
pounds. A man's share is likewise claimed for the 
vessel. The captain or master receives from fourpence 



SEAL-FISHERY. 277 

to sixpence per seal as lils wages ; and the balance of 
the voyage is equally divided among the crew. 

The monotony of a Newfoundland winter is broken 
during the Christmas holidays, when the young men 
on the North Shore go up the bay to secure a berth to 
the ice ; which having been effected, they return to 
finish their winter's work. 

Early in February, the women prepare the requisite 
supply of clothing for their husbands and sons, particu- 
larly their coarse jackets, with cuffs and buskins. About 
the last week in February each man goes to his doctor 
(for they pay the doctor by the year, whether they 
want his services or not), for a little medicine for the 
voyage. And a little it is, consisting mostly of a little 
salve, in case of a cut, a little friar's balsam, in case of a 
sprain, and, above all, a phial containing a solution of 
the sulphate of zinc, in case of ice-blindness. They 
are now ready to take their departure. But, on all the 
Wesleyan stations, it is customary to have a special 
sermon preached, and a special prayer-meeting held, for 
and on behalf of those about to be engaged in the per- 
ilous seal-fishery. On the part of our young men 
who profess religion, this is of great importance, to 
prepare, or rather to fortify, their minds against the 
temptations to which they are soon to be exposed. The 
swearing. Sabbath-breaking, drinking, and general pro- 
fanity, in the sealing-vessels are truly fearful. They have 
sometimes been called floating hells. True, there are 
noble exceptions, and particularly in those vessels which 
sail from Conception Bay, where not a few pious men, 
and some pious captains, are to be found who set them- 
selves to worship the God of heaven, and present a bold 
front to that torrent of iniquity which so constantly 
rolls against them. But these need much of the grace of 

24 



278 NETNTOUNDLAND A^'D ITS »nSSTON ARIES. 

God ; and the prayers of the church should be con- 
stantly offered up for them, that they may bekeptfaith- 
fiil in the trying hour. 

Our valedictory services were always interesting; 
particularly so was the evening prayer-meeting, when 
the big tear could be seen dropping from the eye of 
many a hardy mariner ; while the hearty Amen, that 
Avould ever and anon fall upon the listening ear, from 
the male part of the congregation, and the silent sobs 
of mothers, daughters, and sisters, would indicate the 
divine presence, and involuntaril}- induce the exclama- 
tion : '* This is none other but the house of God, 
and this is the crate of heaven." 

The Sabbath being over, the sealers prepare for 
dejiarture. The men themselves do not call the ani- 
mal they now go to seek, a seal, but a swale, or a soil, 
and the occupation, swaling, or soiling. About the 
last of February, hundreds of ice-hunters might be seen 
toiling up the sculping higlilands, with their gaffs, 
and lono; swalino- 2;uns on their shoulders, and bearing: 
packs on their backs, in order to join their respective 
vessels on the first of March, when every man was 
expected to be in collar for the ice. 

A few days is sufficient to fit out the vessel, which 
is full timbered, with false beams, to resist a side pres- 
sure fi'om the ice ; and the plank at her bows sheathed 
with wood and plated with iron, to bear the friction, 
as she presses forward. When ready for sea, the men 
are divided into groups, to cut their vessel out of har- 
bor. At this time, the ice in the harbors of St. Johns, 
Harbor Grace, Trinity, and other places, presents a 
lively appearance, as hundreds of men, with their loud 
hurrah, and their junction song, " Ho, heave ho," work 
their pit-saws and wield their hatchets, to cut the ice, 



ANECDOTE OF A SEALING-CAPTATN. 279 

and then, with their gaffs and their handspikes, push it 
into open water ; while the vessels in long line are slowly- 
dragged down the newly made channel, to be ready to 
spread their snowy sails to the first fair breeze that 
can waft them toward their destination in the north. 

In the time of which we are writino-, but few of the 
masters or skippers of ice-hunters knew anything of 
navigation ; and although they were excellent seamen, 
yet sometimes they found it difficult, after being out 
of sight of land for weeks, to regain their own shore. 

Their method for calculating for their return was 
carefully to note the point of their departure, and the 
direction in which the ice drifted. When practicable, 
they took their departure from Bacalieu, which is an 
island in the drift of Conception and Trinity Bays, 
from which island they steered north-east for the ice ; 
and as the northern ice usually drifts to the south-east, 
in returning, they were accustomed to steer north- 
w^est for the place of their departure. Hence it be- 
came a proverb : " Wherever you are, steer north-west 
for Bacalieu." But, in so doing, our skippers would 
sometimes miss the whole island, and bring up on some 
other land. An amusing incident, connected with tliis 
steering north-west, was related to the writer by a 
friend in Grand Bank. Our friend was fishing off the 
Island of St. Peters, early in the month of May, when 
a sealing-schooner bore down upon him, and, hailing 
him, asked, " Is that land Bacalieu Island ? " The stran- 
ger was some three hundred miles out of his way. 
Our friend replied, " There is no such place as Bacalieu 
on this coast : the land on which the fog hangs is the 
French island of St. Peters." The man stood aghast ! 
He had never heard of St. Peters, any more than our 
friend had heard of Bacalieu ; but catching the words. 



280 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

" tlie French Island," he seemed to think lie had got 
somewhere on the coast of France. Pausing a moment, 
he said, " I do allow I am out of reckoning ! The French 
island ! which is the way to Bacalieu ? " Oar friend 
said, " I do not know." "' Well, then," said the stran- 
ger, " what is the course to St. Johns ? " "I never was 
at St. Johns," said our friend ; " but you must steer 
north-east seven leagues to Cape Chapeau Rouge, then 
east half south twenty-three leagues to Cape St. Mary, 
then south-east about twenty-two leagues, and you 
will come to Cape Race, and St. Johns is on that 
shore." The stranger, after a sigh, shaped his course 
for Cape Chapeau Rouge, with a shout of '' Good-by, 
a fair wind to you, and a good time of it," from the 
crew of the fishing-boat, and he was soon lost in the 
distance. 

A day or two sail from the Island of Bacalieu will 
bring the vessel to the ice, which presents to the eye a 
boundless waste ; the ocean swell of the great Atlantic 
now agitates the floating mass, and heaves it in heaps 
of every form, which comes craunching against both 
sides of the vessel, as though she w^ere between the 
jaws of some aquatic monster ; while the myriads of 
huoe ice-islands from the Arctic seas sluojo-ishlv roll 
their ponderous weight along, threatening destruction 
to any craft that might chance to be in their way. It 
not unfrequently happens that the vessel — notwith- 
standing her false beams,* her sheathed bows, and every 
other precaution that has been used, to render her in- 
vulnerable — is crushed to ])ieces, and her hapless crew 
left to wander in quest of another vessel, or perish on 
the ice. 

But by the kind providence of that Great Being 
who controls all nature, and whose eyelids never slum- 



KILLING THE SEAL. 281 

ber, the men being preserved from these dangers, com- 
mence the work Nvhich had brought them from their 
homes. 

In tlie second or third week in ^larch, the white 
coats are in their prime, and the barking of the dams 
and the weaker cry of their young unmistakably point 
out the direction the hunter must go, to find the object 
of his pursuit. His implements are a sealing-gaff, a 
hauling-rope, and a knife. The gaff is a bat of wood, 
about seven feet long, with a hook in one end. Tiiis 
is the instrument with which the seal is killed ; it is 
struck on the nose, and one blow will kill a young seal. 
The knife is to take off the pelt, and the rope is to haul 
the load to the vessel. By the word pelt is meant the 
skin and the fat ; for the fat of the seal adheres to the 
skin, as does the fat to the back of the hog : when, 
therefore, it is said such a vessel brought home so 
many seals, the reader must understand, those were 
only seals' pelts, for the carcass, which scarcely con- 
tains a particle of fat, is left upon the ice. 

When the man approaches the young ^eal, the 
mother, with a howl and a bound, will leave her off- 
spring, and, darting through a crevice in the ice, will 
seek refuge in the water beneath. The young white- 
coat will now cry like a young lamb , — some say like 
a child ; and the tear can be seen in the eye. But 
compassion for the young seal is out of the question 
on the part of the man who has labored so much and 
braved so many dangers, for the sole purpose of taking 
its life and seizing its skin : the gaff is raised, the stroke 
falls with fatal effect, the knife is plunged into the belly 
of the animal; when a few dexterous cuts will take off 
the pelt, and the carcass, still quivering with life, is left 
on the spot in a pool of its own blood. 

24 ♦ 



282 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The pelt of the wliite-coat Avill wei<j;li about fifty 
pounds ; and when tlie lumter has taken three pelts, it 
is a load ; which he ties in his hauling-rope, and then 
returns to the vessel, where, having left his prize, he 
again goes to the scene of carnage, to repeat the same 
act of slaughter, wdiich is thus continued from early 
dawn to evening shade, by all the crews of all the ves- 
sels in the vicinity of the seal-meadow, until acres of 
ice are stained wdth the blood, and strewed with the 
carcasses, of these unoffending victims. In this manner, 
when the seals are ]»!enty, the vessel can be loaded in 
a few days ; when she carries her cargo into port, and 
returns to the ice to make a second trip, ere the season 
shall have passed away. But the seals are not always 
so plenty : sometimes the voyage is a failure ; and then 
the consequences, in a pecuniary view, are serious, both 
to the owner and to the crew. 

When the seals are found, they are not always close 
to the vessel, but have to be brought a distance of some 
miles, w^hen haulino; a turn of soils over the bio- hum- 
mocks, or ice-hillocks, makes the labor exceedingly 
toilsome. Sometimes chasms occur, over which the 
men must leap, or move pans of ice with their gaffs so 
as to form a bridge ; sometimes slob, or small loose ice 
covered with snow, intervenes between the larger ice, 
on which, if the hunter should chance to step, he must 
be extricated by the gaff" of his friend, or he is in- 
gulfed and perishes in the water ; not unfrequently, 
when a distance from the vessel, a dense fog arises, or 
a snow-storm comes on, when the hunter is speedily 
lost, horns are blowai, and guns are fired, but they are 
inaudible by the roaring of the wind, and the pitiless 
pelting of the storm. Lights are shown at night, but 
they are invisible in the snow-drift ; deep anxiety is 



OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH, 283 

felt by tlie crew for their missing sliipmate, and every 
exertion is made to find liim : but the vessel has drifted 
far away, or he has wandered in an opposite direction, 
or fallen through the ice ; or overcome with fatigue, 
cold, or hunger, he lies down, and is frozen to death. 
Seldom does a sealing-voyage terminate without some 
such calamity, or the month of May arrive without the 
bitter intelligence being conveyed to some expectant 
family, that the wife is a widow, and the children are 
orpjians. 

Taking seals on the Sabbath used to be practised by 
all hunters ; and it must be admitted, that when, oi], 
the Sabbath morning, the ice would be alive with 
seals, and there was a possibility, and perhaps a prob- 
ability, that by the next day they would all disappear, 
a powerful motive was presented to the mind to violate 
the sanctity of that holy day. When some members 
of the Wesle3^an Church first made a stand against 
taking seals on Sunday, and insisted that that day was 
the Sabbath of the Lord as well at the ice as on the 
shore, and that its hours should be as sacred, and his 
worship performed with as much reverence, on board 
the schooner as in the stately temple in the crowded 
city, they were laughed at as enthusiasts, or considered 
as takino; leave of their senses. And although it is a 
painful fact, that of the many hundreds of vessels that 
now go to the ice every spring, far the greater part of 
the crews of those vessels still constantly disregard the 
injunction of Jehovah in regard to the Sabbath ; yet 
there are now many noble exceptions. Many captains 
will not now allow a seal to be brought on board their 
ships ; there are many individuals, and whole crews, who 
will not catch a seal ; and, in some instances, not only is 
the Bible read, and prayer-meetings held, but a regular 



281 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

public service is performed on board by tlie master, or 
some one of tlie crew, during the hours of God's holy 
day. As to the loss of seals by keeping the " Sabbath 
day holy," that is only in imagination ; for the Sabbath- 
keeping captains are just as successful, and often more 
so, than the Sabbath-breaking captains. But, even 
were it not so, earthly gain must not be placed in 
juxtaposition with the mandate of Heaven ; but, in all 
cases, is that divine law to be considered of para- 
mount importance, " Remember the Sabbath day to 
keep it holy." 

Hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of seals being 
thrown together with a portion of the blood, and the 
heat of the April sun melting the fat, and changing it 
into oil, causes a most unpleasant effluvia, and produces 
a state of filth which is more easily conceived than 
described. 

The flesh of the seal is eaten largely by the hunters, 
and the heart is considered by some as a dainty. On 
shore, the seal is eaten when young and fresh. Boiled, 
it has the appearance of mutton ; but the general way 
of cooking seal-flesh on land is to soak it in water, and 
bake it, and bring it on the table with berry-sauce or 
preserved fruit. The writer has often partaken of seal- 
flesh ; but, to his taste, it was not very savory. 

Early in April, the stealers think of returning home, 
and reach there aboiit the middle of the month. If 
they have been unsuccessful, or any calamity has hap- 
pened, they enter the harbor as silently as possible ; but 
if they have had a prosperous voyage, the flags fly at 
the masts, and a gun is fired for every hundred seals 
that has been taken on board. 

Formerly, when the vessel arrived, the pelts would 
be counted, and sold so much for each, according to its 



RETURN OF THE SEALERS. 285 

size ; but some of the hunters were guilty of fraud, by- 
leaving a portion of fat on the carcass, that the load 
might be lighter to haul. The seals are therefore now 
all purchased by weight. The number of seals brought 
into. the different ports in one spring often exceeds half 
a million. The number taken in the year 1840 was 
631,385, which would average something over one dol- 
lar for each seal. When the seal-pelts are landed, the 
skinners scrape the fat from the skin, and put it into 
large vats, where the heat of the sun during the earlier 
months of summer melts it, and it becomes the pale 
seal-oil, which is drawn off in casks, and mostly ex- 
ported to Europe. The skins are slightly salted, and 
exported to the same countries. 

Sometimes the drift-ice will come into the harbors 
with thousands of seals, when men, women, and chil- 
dren will go to get a haul. It is said that, in the spring 
of 1843, near 20,000 seals were thus taken by the peo- 
ple from the shore. 

While our members are away to the ice, they are 
never forgotten at home. They are always remem- 
bered in public and family prayer, and prayer-meetings 
are specially held to supplicate a throne of grace on their 
behalf. It was truly delightful, on the arrival of the 
young men from the dangers of the ice, to hear the 
female portions of the flimily relate to them from mem- 
ory the sermons that had been preached, the exhorta- 
tions that had been given, the prayers that had been 
offered up for them, and the hymns that had been sung 
at public worship and at the prayer-meetings, during 
their absence. 

A few days after the return of the ice-hunters, the 
preparation for the summer cod-fishery commences, 
when the labor, fatigue, and anxiety connected there- 



286 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



with, as already described, liav'e again to be endured; 
and thus, In summer and winter, in spring and autumn, 
has the Newfoundlander a Hfe of constant toll and of 
danger. 

We will now present a table, by which the reader 
will see the progress of the seal-fishery since the year 
1795. The years In the table are not regularly con- 
secutive, but are given simply as examples. 



Years. 



No. seals taken 
each year. 



1795 
1814 
1815 
1820 
1825 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 
1838 
1840 
1841 
1842 
1847 



4,900 
156,000 
141,370 
221,334 
221,510 
300,681 
559,342 
442,003 
384,699 
360,155 
557,490 
384,321 
375,361 
631,385 
417,115 
344,683 
455,180 



Number of vessels engaged in the seal-Jisliery in 1847. 



Districts. 



Vessels. 



St. Johns, 


95 


Brifjus, 


66 


Carbonear, 


54 


Plarbor Grace, 


51 


Ports to North'd, 


74 


Total, ! 


340 



Tonnage. 

9,353 
5,010 
4,634 
5,084 
5,803 



Men. 



29,884 



3,215 
2,111 
1,672 
1,684 
2,123 
I ^10,805"^ 



SEALING-VESSELS. 287 

The capture of the seal for its pelt, — that is, the skin, 
and fat which produce the seal-oil, — has been the 
practice of the inhabitants from the first settlement of 
the island. In the commencement of the seal-fishery 
seal-nets were used ; and the seal-fishery, by means of 
seal-nets, was extensively carried on all along the north- 
eastern coast. Venturesome men next went to the ice 
in boats, when it came near the shore ; and the number 
of seals thus taken, they considered an ample reward 
for their darino; and dano-er. The success of the seal- 
ing-boats encouraged parties to fit out decked vessels, 
as thev could o;o to a o-reater distance, and could better 
stand the roughs connected with a sealino;-voyao;e. The 
boats that used to be employed in this hazardous voyage 
were open fishing-boats ; but, in 1793, two small 
schooners, of about forty-five tons each, were fitted out 
for the ice, and sailed from St. Johns on the first week 
in April. They were very successfial, one of them re- 
turninof with eio-ht hundred seals. In 1796, four ves- 
sels, of a similar size, sailed from St. Johns, and a few 
from Conception Bay, some of which were equally suc- 
cessful. Still, for many years, there was a prejudice 
against employing vessels at the ice of over fifty or 
sixty tons. But in the year 1825, two vessels (thought 
at the time too monstrous fi»r such a purpose), of 120 
tons each, were built in Conception Bay, expressly for 
the seal-fishery. They were both very fortunate : one 
returned in the spring of 1826, with QfiQQ seals, and 
the other with 5,828. This set the question at rest as 
to the size of the vessels ; and the ice-hunters now are 
usually well-built craft, of from 120 to 140 tons. As 
seen in the above table, the number of men employed 
in 1847 was near 11,000, and the estimated value of 
the seals taken that spring was X 214,175 sterling. 



CHAPTER XI. 

MISSION TO THE LABRADOR INDIANS — MORAVIAN MISSION — ADAM 
CLARK AVARD — NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT — THOMAS HICKSON'S 
MISSION — RICHARD KNIGHT'S MISSION — GEORGE KLLIDGE'S MIS- 
SION — CHARLES BATES — WITHDRAWAL OF THE MISSION. 

MISSION TO THE LABRADOR INDIANS. 

THE Moravians have the honor of several important 
mission stations on the frigid coast of Labrador, 
which were estabhshed only by the most indomitable 
Christian courage and perseverance. The first attempt 
of this noble object was in the year 1752, when four 
Moravian ministers sailed from London for the Labrador 
in a trading vessel, determined, by the grace of God, that, 
while the captain should transact secular business with 
the Indians, they would take the opportunity of speaking 
to them about spiritual things, and of making known 
to them the gospel of salvation. Two of the ship's 
crew were murdered by tlie natives, in consequence of 
which the missionaries had to return, to enable the cap- 
tain to bring the ship back to Europe, and the mission, 
for a time, was abandoned.^ 

Twelve years afterward, or in the year 1764, Jens 
Haven, who had been for some years a missionary in 
Greenland, and who spoke the Greenland language, 
sailed from England in a Danish ship, with the design 
of again attempting to establish a mission on tlie Labra- 
dor coast. Whenever he landed the Indians fled, so 

1 Crantz's History of United Brethren, p. 404. 
(288) 



ESQUIMAUX. 289 

that he could not get an opportunity of making known 
to them his object. After a time, the ship had occasion 
to touch at Quirpon Island, on the north-east point of 
Newfoundland, where he met with a number of the 
Esquimaux, with whom he conversed freely, and taught 
them the worship of the true God, and the way to 
heaven. 

The year following, accompanied by another Danish 
missionary from Greenland, he, with two lay-brethren, 
in a Danish ship of war, again visited the coast. They 
now met w^ith some hundreds of the Exquimaux, and 
spoke to them in the Greenland language, " of the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God." There is 
an affinity between the Greenland and the Esquimau 
languages ; but that affinity is not so great as to enable 
the Indians to understand the verities of Christianity 
from the Danish missionaries, who could only speak in 
Greenlandic. 

The Esquimaux thought themselves very good peo- 
ple ; that the Greenlanders were wicked people ; but 
that the foreigners, and particularly the Europeans who 
traded with them, and generally cheated them, were 
real Kahlunats. A Kablunat means a very wicked 
man, or a villain. When, therefore, the missionary 
Drachart spoke to them about their depravity, and of 
the depravity of mankind, they said, " That may be 
true of the Kablunats ; but, as for us, we are good 
people." When they told them of the Greenlanders, 
who had been w^ashed in the blood of Christ, they 
replied, " Then they must have been very bad peo- 
ple." When they spoke about the Redeemer, they 
imagined he w^as some great personage, who would 
save them from the Kablunats, and assist them ao;ainst 
their enemies in the north. The missionaries had a 

25 



290 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSION AKIES. 

letter of friendship to them from the Governor of New- 
foundland, wliicli, while they Kstened as it was read, 
yet they would in no w^ay be persuaded to take the 
document into their own hands, as they thought there 
must be somethino- Hvino; in it, since it could communi- 
cate the thoughts of a man at such a distance. The 
brethren, however, did not yet see their w^ay clear, and 
the establishment of the Labrador mission was again 
deferred. This happened in 1765, — the same year 
that Lawrence Couo;hlan came to Newfoundland. 

In the year 1771, after nineteen years of effort, or, 
rather, of efforts made at different times during a period 
of nineteen years, the Moravians succeeded m establish- 
ing their mission. Labrador belongs to Great Britain ; 
therefore the missionaries, Jens Haven, Christian Dra- 
chart, and Stephen Jenson, applied to, and obtained a 
grant from, the British government for missionary pur- 
poses. The spot upon which they fixed as their mission 
station was in 57° north latitude, about the parallel of 
the Hebrides. It was at the head of a bay, or deep 
indent in the land ; and from its pleasant situation, and 
its commandinor view of the ocean, thev called their 
station Nain, which means pleasant, or beauty. The 
climate of Nain varies from 75° or 80° in summer, to a 
degree of cold in winter where ordinary rum will freeze 
like water, and rectified spirits soon become as thick as 
oil. 

The ignorance of the Esquimaux was so palpable 
that it was difficult to make them understand the first 
principles of religion. When the missionaries spoke to 
them of indulging in their brutal passions, they, like 
many in Christian lands, would try to make out that 
they were quite as good, if not a little better, than their 
neighbors. Thus the liars would console themselves 



MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES. 291 

that they were not thieves ; the thieves, that they were 
not murderers ; and the murderers, that they were not 
Kahluaats ! which they placed in the highest scale of 
criminals. 

God blessed the labors of these devoted men ; and in 
five years, — that is, in 1776, — they formed a new set- 
tlement on a small island called Okkak, about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles north of Nain, and near Hudson's 
Strait. Here they had a good haven for boats, a harbor 
for ships, with abundance of fish, and a plentiful supply 
of wood. Many of the savages soon felt the power 
of religion, and were ba])tized into the Christian faith. 

In the year 1782, a third settlement was formed to 
the south of Nain, which the brethren called Hopedale. 

The missionaries soon acquired a complete knowl- 
edge of the Esquimau language, when they translated 
the New Testament and a Harmony of the Four Gos- 
pels, which were printed at the expense of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society. They collected the chil- 
dren in schools, and translated a spelling-book, and a 
catechism for the use of the schools, and a hymn-book 
for the general purposes of the mission. They taught 
the people to sing, and they succeeded in getting all 
their converts to have family prayer, both night and 
morning, and, in different ways, to edify and love 
each other. 

We cannot close this statement without presenting to 
the eye of the reader the following very interesting 
account, as found in the appendix to the report of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society for 1812, p. 42. 

" AVhen the Gospel of John, which was first printed, was dis- 
tributed among the converts, they expressed their sense of its 
value in the most affecting manner. Some burst into a flood of 
tears ; others pressed the little book to their bosom, and looked as 



292 



newfoundla:nd and its missionaries. 



happy as if they had enjoyed a foretaste of heaven. They used 
to take it with them when they went in search of provisions ; and 
they spent their evenings in their tents or snow-houses, reading it 
with great delight. Several of the Esquimaux at Nain, having 
been informed of the nature and operations of the Bible Society, 
began, of their own accord, to collect seals' blubber, with a view 
of sending it as a contribution to that invaluable institution. Some 
brought whole seals, or part of a seal, according to their several 
ability ; others brought portions of blubber in the name of their 
children, begging that their offerings migiit also be accepted, so 
that other heathens might be presented with that blessed book." 

In the year 1821, a statement of the Esquimaux 
mission was given to the world, showing its resuh.s ; 
the tabular view of which we here extract from Brown's 
History of the propagation of Cln-istianity among the 
heathen.^ 



When begun. 


Settlements. 


No. of Adults. 


Children. 


Total. 


1771 
1776 

1782 


Nain 

Okkak 

Hopedale 


95 
189 
102 

.. 386 


124 
142 
116 


218 
331 
218 




Total 


381 


76 7 



In the Missionary Register for February, 1820, there 
is found this statement of the Labrador mission : — 

" The gospel continues to show its power in the hearts of the 
Esquimaux, and of rough, wild, and proud heathen, to use the 
words of the missionaries, to make repenting sinners humble fol- 
lowers of Jesus ; while most of the members of the congregations 
become more firmly grounded on the only true foundation. Great 
thankfulness is expressed for the portion of the Scripture printed 
for them by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The missionaries 
write thus : " We rejoice in prospect of the great blessings 
which our dear people, young and old, will derive from the peru- 



^ Brown's Christianity, Vol. 1, p. 594. 



HANTS HARBOR. 293 

sal ; for they value the Scriptures above every other gift, and 
always carry the books with them, as their choicest treasure, when- 
ever they go from us to any distance, that they may read in them 
every morning and evening.'" — Wesleyan Mission to Labrador. 

Such was the state of the Moravian mission at Lab- 
rador, when the Wesleyan Missionary Committee re- 
solved also to establish a mission on the southern part 
of that dreary land, so that the Esquimaux, from Hud- 
son's Bay to the St. Lawrence, might all be rescued 
from heathen darkness, and enjoy the light and privileges 
of Christian truth. 

From Hopedale, the most southern of the Moravian 
settlement, to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, or the 
Strait of Belle Isle, there are some three hundred miles 
of coast, over which still roams the Esquimaux, in his 
heathen state and savao-e wildness. It was to this 
tract of country that our noble missionary secretaries, 
the Rev. Messrs. Bunting, Taylor, and Watson, con- 
templated sending a Wesleyan missionary, in order to 
reclaim the nomads of the south, as their brethren, the 
Moravians, had so successfully done with the same 
tribes in a more hyperborean district. 

A young man of talent, of sterling piety, and in 
every way qualified for such a work, was already in 
the mission field, — Adam C. Avard, then stationed at 
Fredericton. This young missionary enjoyed the full 
confidence of the compiittee, and would have gone to 
Labrador the next year, but his Master called him 
home. He sickened and died. In the Missionary Re- 
port for 1821, page 106, the committee make a note 
on this as follows : — 

" An excellent young man, Mr. Avard, has been called away 
from this mission (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) by death, 
who had given great promise of usefulness. He was appointed 
19* 



294 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

to establish a mission among the Indians on the Labrador coast, 
but was taken sick before the commencement of his voyage. That 
enterprise has been confided to the brethren in Newfoundland ; 
and the instructions sent out by Mr. Avard have been transferred 
to the missionary who may be appointed by the chairman of that 
district." 

About two years before this, considerable excitement 
had been produced by the baptism of six Labrador 
Indians by our missionary, Mr. ElHs, at Bearneed, in 
the Port de Grave Circuit. They were all of one fam- 
ily, and consisted of a mother, her daughter, her son, 
her son's wife, and two grand-children. Of their cos- 
tume, Mr. Ellis gives the following description : — 

'" Their dress is of the skin of deer and seals, and there is no 
difference in the manner of wearing it, except that the coats of 
the women have long tails hanging down to the ground. Both 
men and women wear pantaloons made by the latter, and to the 
coat of the women is fixed a hood, in which they carry their 
young children. Their face is rather broad, eyes a deep black, 
and their color approaching that of mahogany, their tepth white 
and well set, hands small, and of fine symmetry. They are an 
interesting-looking people." * 

The first instructions that the Newfoundland District 
received was in the year 1820 ; and are referred to in 
the Missionary Report for that year, p. 86. In this re- 
port, both the aboriginal inhabitants of. the island, and 
the Esquimaux, are brought to the notice of the breth- 
ren and the public, as objects of missionary enterprise. 
The paragraph reads : — 

" Newfoundland District. The accounts from this island 
are favorable. The attention of the public has lately been turned 
to the aboriginal inhabitants in the interior, and should any open- 
ing to these insulated tribes occur, the brethren are directed to avail 
themselves of it to attempt their instruction. They have been 

1 Methodist Magazine, 1820, p. G37. 



THOMAS HICKSON. 295 

also directed to make inquiries as to the establishment of a mission 
on the opposite coast of Labrador, with which there is an intercourse 
in the fishing-season." 

Although the brethren received instructions about 
the Esquimau Mission in 1820, yet they did not see 
their way to move in the case until the year 1824, be- 
cause they had not a man to spare from any of their 
circuits. But in this year, Thomas Hickson was about 
to return to England, and offered, before he left, to go 
on a mission of exploration to the Labrador, and report 
the result to the committee. Mr. Hickson sailed from 
St. Johns, June 18th, 1824, and reached the coast on 
the 23d. He sailed along the coast, visiting different 
harbors, and arrived at the place of his destination, 
which was the Great Bay of Esquimau, on the 8th 
of July. The geographical position of Esquimau Bay 
is laid down as in hit. 51°. 25' 10''; Ion. 57° 32' 
west. 

The journal of Mr. Hickson is published in the mis- 
sionary notices and Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 
1825. He opened his mission in Tub Harbor, on the 
11th of July, 1824. He says, " I had the unspeakable 
satisfaction of preaching the word of life for the first 
time in the Great Bay of Esquimau. The poor In- 
dians were very serious, though they could not under- 
stand much of what was spoken." Mr. Hickson spoke 
in English at this time, but a few days later he found a 
native female who could act as an interpreter. He 
now collected forty Indians, and preached to them with 
great satisfaction. Of this sermon he says : '' I spoke 
through the means of the above mentioned person as an 
interpreter, who, when she had made them to understand 
any truth of the gospel, manifested very pleasing tokens 
of gratitude. The interpreter was at loss to find a word 



296 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS "MISSIONARIES. 

in the Esquimau for prayer ; and the reason she as- 
signed was, that prayer was not known among them ; 
they liad, therefore, no word for it." 

Mr. Hickson continued at the Labrador about one 
month, and had to leave Esquimau Bay on the 10th 
of August. He spent most of his time among the In- 
dians, in their wigwams, or in some way instructing 
them in the knowledge of the truth. He met with 
some who had been with the Moravian missionaries in 
the north, who frequently expressed a grateful and af- 
fectionate remembrance of their former teachers, and 
sometimes while Mr. H. was preaching, would aloud 
inform their brethren that they had heard the same 
truths spoken by the Moravian missionaries. 

Of the population of Esquimau Bay, Mr. Hickson, 
as the result of his inquiries, sets down the following 
figures : — 

Real Esquimaux adults, 100 

Real Esquimaux children, . ... . .60 

Half Esquimaux children, 60 

European settlers, 90 

Canadian settlers, 16 

Total number, exclusive of any other part of the coast, 326 

Of their ideas and practices we are furnished with 
the following statement : " The Esquimaux have very 
confused notions of a Supreme Being, but they have an 
idea of the devil, whom they suppose to be the author 
of all pain. In the case of dangerous illness, the oldest 
person in the place hangs all the pot-crooks or old hoops 
about him, and, taking a stick in his hand, he turns 
over all the skins in the wio-wam in order to drive the 
devil away. If his satanic majesty is not terrified by 
this rumpus, they have recourse to sacrifice, which is 



THOMAS HICKSON. 297 

by killing their best dog." But human sacrifice was 
not then unknown. Mr. Hickson mentions a case 
which occurred about three years before he visited the 
bay. An Indian, supposing himself to be in dying 
circumstances, and having a notion that the devil would 
spare his life if he could accomplish the death of another 
person, fixed upon a neighbor's wife as his victim, and 
ordered his own wife to do the bloody deed. She was 
reluctant, but he seized a hatchet, and threatened her 
life if she refused obedience to his mandate ; when, 
prevailing upon another female to assist her, they to- 
gether murdered the poor woman by hanging. But 
the man died, and the wife became frantic. When an 
Esquimau dies, his body is wrapped in skins, and laid 
upon the surface of the ground, and a large pile of 
stones is raised over it. The canoe, darts, kettles, and 
other utensils are buried with him, supposing he will 
need them in another -world. 

Mr. Hickson was fully impressed with the importance 
and duty of sending a missionary among them. Before 
he left he intimated that a missionary would be sent 
among them, and said it was necessary that they should 
live as near to him as possible, in order to enjoy the ben- 
efit of his labors. To this they replied, " Wherever the 
missionary may be, we will not be far from him.'* As 
Mr. Hickson was leaving, the Indians stood upon the 
shore, and with tears in their eyes, they waved their 
hands and cried out '' Tava, tava:" farewell, farewell. 

With Mr. Hickson's Journal the missionaiy com- 
mittee were well pleased, and their view of the matter 
is given in the Missionary Report for 1825, p. 133 : — 

" Labrador Mission.— Mr. Thomas Hickson visited the Esqui- 
mau Indians, from Newfoundland, in the course of last summer. 
He found there a people truly ' prepared of the Lord ; ' and from 



298 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

his favorable report, the committee have resolved on the appoint- 
ment of a missionary to that poor people in the neighborhood of 
Esquimau Bay." 

At the district meeting, in the spring of 1825, the 
Labrador Mission was discussed at o-reat leno-th, when 
some of the brethren thought that Mr. Hickson was 
too sanguine, and the success of a mission there was 
very problematical. To satisfy such brethren, and to 
meet the views of the committee on this point, Richard 
Knight was appointed to visit the same coast that Mr. 
Hickson had visited the previous summer. 

Mr. Knitrht was stationed in Brigus, but the followino; 
entry is found in the minutes of conference for 1825 : — 

" Mission of Rev. Richard Kxight to the Esquimau In- 
dians. — Indian Mission, Esqniinau Bay, on the Labrador Coast. 
Richard Knight, who is to spend the summer months on this 
station." 

Mr. Knight's station was mostly supplied, during his 
absence, by the writer, who was then stationed in the 
adjoining circuit. Port de Grave. 

Mr. Knight went to Labrador in the month of ^une, 
1825, in a vessel belonging to, and accompanied by his 
friend, Charles Cozens, Esq., of Brigus. On arriving 
at Esquimau Bay, Mr. Knight was left to prosecute 
the business of his mission, while Mr. Cozens ran down 
the coast to visit the Moravian mission stations. He 
arrived off " Nain" on a Sabbath morning, and, after 
asking permission to land, which was readily granted 
by the missionaries, he, with the captain of his vessel, 
went directly to the Moravian Church, in which divine 
service had already commenced. The church was a 
plain, neat building, of about thirty-six feet by twenty- 
eight, with one aisle in the middle ; all the men sitting 
on one side, and all the women on the other. The 



MORAA^AN MISSIONS. 299 

service was in German, which, while Mr. Cozens could 
not understand, yet he was struck with the order and 
attention of the Indians. When the English party 
went in, so engaged were the Indians in worship, that 
not an eye was observed turned toward them ; and at 
particular parts of the sermon the countenance of the 
congregation showed that the word powerfully affected 
their hearts ; but when they began to sing, it was heav- 
enly. There were four violins accurately tuned to con- 
cert pitch, and played by the Esquimaux ; the tunes 
were the solemn old German Church music, every per- 
son sang, and every voice was in unison, and while tears 
flowed down the manly cheeks of our European visitors, 
the dark physiognomy of these sons of the northern wilds 
was brightened with heavenly fire, as, with heartfelt 
sincerity, their lips vibrated with the praises of the 
great Jehovah. 

The Moravian missionaries are plain but intelligent 
men, and their wives and children were remarkable for 
the neatness of their attire. The settlements are small 
villages, each having its church, its school-house, and 
its parsonage. They have fine gardens and plenty of 
vegetables, with some cattle. All the adults can read, 
and all the children of sufficient age go to school. The 
men still hunt and fish, but some of them have learned 
to be carpenters or blacksmiths ; and the women have 
been taught by the ladies of the mission to sew and do 
household work. The writer has eaten a piece of bread 
baked on the Labrador Mission. Our Moravian breth- 
ren have labored long and hard among those Indians, 
but they ^re amply rewarded for their toil. A vessel 
from Europe annually visits the coast, to bring supplies 
to the missionaries and trade with the natives. 

While Mr. Cozens was getting information from the 



300 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

German missionaries, which hereafter might be of 
great use to the EngHsh missionaries, Mr. Knight was 
faithfully preaching to the heathen Esquimaux in the 
south, and making every observation and inquiry on all 
matters bearing upon the then contemplated Wesleyan 
Mission, to be established in their midst. The Indians 
heard him with attention as he preached to them, through 
the same female interpreter, and were in the same ec- 
stasy when he spoke about a missionar}^ being sent to 
reside among them, as they were when the first intima- 
tion thereof had been given to them in the previous 
summer by Mr. Hickson. Additional interest was im- 
parted to the case by the arrival of several Christian 
Esquimaux from the Moravian establishments in the 
north, who told their brethren of the benefits which 
Christianity would confer upon them in this world, be- 
sides the hope of eternal life in the world that is to 
come. These Christian Esquimaux had learned to 
sing at the mission stations, and Mr. Knight, who 
understood music, and had a good musical taste, said of 
their performance : " I have heard good singing, and I 
have heard good music scientifically performed ; but such 
a perfect chorus, and such a melody of voices, never 
before fell upon my auricular nerves. I gazed and 
wept." Mr. Knight was cheered with the prospect, and., 
with Mr. Hickson, was decided in his opinion that a 
mission to the Esquimaux should at once be established. 
By that opinion the committee for a time were guided. 
Hence the following entry in their report for 1826, 
p. 97: — 

" Labrador. — The Esquimaux on this coast were again visited 
last summer. Mr. Knight, who was appointed to that service, re- 
ports favorably of the prospect of doing good, and measures wiU 
be taken to establish a regular mission." 



LABRADOR MISSION. 301 

The Labrador Mission now began to excite consider- 
able interest in England, and the committee, with their 
wonted liberality and kindness, sent out articles for build- 
ing and furnishing a mission-house, to a large amount. 
Had there been no more exploring for a mission, and 
could we have patiently waited until the committee 
had found a rolunteer missionary who would have taken 
up a permanent residence among the Esquimaux, the 
British Conference of near forty years ago would have 
had Esquimau Bay in their long list of '' missions to 
the heathen ; " but such is not the fact. At the dis- 
trict meeting of 1826, Georo-e Ellido;e was selected for 
the Labrador Mission. It was an untoward selection. 
Mr. Ellidge objected to the appointment and said : "I 
will not offer for the Labrador ; if I go^ you send me." 
From that moment a cloud began to gather over the 
Esquimau Indian Mission, which continued to spread 
until the mission was obscured in its density. 

Of the appointment of Mr. Ellidge, the committee 
have the following entry in their Report for 1827, 
p. 110: — 

" Labrador Mission — Esquimau Bay — Mr. Ellidge. 
— The visit of Mr. Kniglit, during several months of the last 
summer, to the Eiiquimau tribes of the Labrador coast was equally- 
satisfactory with that of Mr. Hickson, the preceding summer. The 
natives of these rude shores present to the labors of the self-deny- 
ing servants of Christ, who may take up their residence among 
them, a docility and susceptibility of feeling on subjects of religion 
highly encouraging, and the committee therefore directed one of 
the brethren in Newfoundland to take steps to establish a per- 
manent mission among them during the present summer. Mr. 
Ellidge was in consequence sent by the chairman of the New- 
foundland district, and the committee have reason to be satisfied 
with the person chosen for this arduous work, and with his pros- 
pects. At the last account, he was building a house for a winter 
residence, to the great satisfaction of the natives." 
'26 



302 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

By a letter from ]\Ir. Ellidge, we find that he has 
fixed upon Snook's Cove, on tlie Labrador coast, as the 
place for commencing a permanent mission ; and that 
he left St. Johns, Newfoundland, to winter there, hav- 
ing made preparations for building a house, and obtain- 
ing stores for the winter. This place is considered to 
afford most convenient access to the Indians. 

Mr. Ellidjie remained at the Labrador during the 
winter, and returned to Newfoundland 'in the autumn 
of 1827. The writer was then on the Burin Station. 
Of the views of Mr. Ellidge in reference to the Labra- 
dor Mission, he knew nothing, but the Esquimau Mis- 
sion had for years occupied his thoughts ; and, on the 
23d of November, 1827, he wrote to the committee, 
and offered his services permanently to reside among 
the Indians as a Wesleyan missionary. This offer is 
noticed in the Report for 1828, p. 107. The offer was 
accepted ; and in the conference minutes of 1828, in 
the list of stations, is the following appointment : " In- 
dian Mission^ Esquimau Bay^ 07i the Labrador Coasts 
William Wilson." He now began to make arrange- 
ments to enter upon his Indian Mission. He engaged 
a man to go with him, who had been several years 
among the Esquimaux, and who understood something 
of their lancTuao;e. From this man he obtained a num- 
ber of Esquimau words, which he intended as the 
basis of a grammar, and an Esquimau-English Lexicon. 
But all was in vain. Mr. Ellidge, who had been sent, 
reported unfavorably. The chairman and brethren 
whom he consulted were astonished at the incongruity 
between the reports of Messrs. Hickson and Knight, 
and the report of Mr. Ellidge. They therefore sent 
another brother, Mr. Bate, to occupy the station until 
the pleasure of the committee be known. Upon the 



LABRADOR MISSION. 803 

report of the brethren EUIdge and Bate, the commit- 
tee came to the conchision that the mission must be 
abandoned. The writer, ahhough appointed there by 
the committee and conference, never saw the Labrador 
coast. 

He will copy the last tw^o notices of the Esquimau 
Mission, as found in the reports for 1828 and 1829. 
The former report on p. 10, reads : — 

"Labrador Mission — Esquimau Bay — Chas. Bate. 
— The Mission to the Esquimau tribes of the Labrador coast has 
been impeded by difficulties, which, though partially foreseen, 
could not be known in their full extent, before the mission had 
been commenced. Mr. Ellidge, agreeably to the appointment of 
the committee, proceeded to Esquimau Bay, and for several 
months labored with diligence and zeal, and under great priva- 
tions, amongst both the natives and the settlers ; but, being doubt- 
ful of success, from the scattered state of the different tribes, their 
migratory mode of life, and the paucity of their number, he re- 
turned to Newfoundland. The brethren on that island, unwilling 
to abandon the mission, immediately resolved to send Mr. Bate to 
occupy the station until the pleasure of the committee be known 
Since then, letters have been received from Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, 
offering, in the true spirit of Christian enterprise, to leave their 
present station, and proceed to the Labrador coast, if appointed 
by the committee. This decision they are now expecting to re- 
ceive ; and there is ground to hope that, under the blessing of 
God, their patient and persevering labors may yet cause the 
' barren wilderness to smile, by the illuminating and cheering in- 
fluences of the gospel light and truth.' " 

In the Report for 1859, p. 132, we have the follow- 
ing notice : — 

" The Labrador Mission is for the present suspended, principally 
in consequence of the removal of the Esquimau tribes from the 
coast into the interior of the country, and their general disper- 
sion." 



804 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Thus terminated the British Esquimau Indian Mis- 
sion, after it had cost some hundreds of pounds ; and 
had engaged the attention of the Christian pubUc for 
some eight or ten years. 

The Conference of '' Eastern British America " has 
indeed " Labrador " on the list of stations, but its 
mission is only to the British settlers and fishermen 
from Newfoundland. We hope, however, a mission to 
the Indians will yet be commenced on the coast, or, if 
need be, in the interior ; that we may assist our Mora- 
vian brethren in rescuing the savages on British soil, 
and within our own boundaries, from their darkness 
and heathenism. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE RED INDIANS — THEIR HABITS — KILLED BY WHITE MEN — ATTACK 
A PARTY OF WHITE MEN — CAPTAIN BUCHAN — MARY MARCH — 
THREE LOST INDIANS SEEN — SHANANDITHIT. 

THE RED INDIANS OR ABORIGINES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 

WHATEVER continent or large island the mod- 
ern navigator may visit, he always finds human 
beings there ; beings who, like himself, were created in 
the image of God, and bought with the " precious blood 
of Christ." Sometimes he finds these men in a state 
of civilization that excites his astonishment, as in the 
case of the inhabitants of Central America, of China 
and Japan, and sometimes in a state of complete bar- 
barism, as the natives of South Africa, Polynesia, the 
Indians of the North American forests, and the original 
owners and proprietors of the Island of Newfoundland. 
He wonders by what educational process the one people 
became so elevated ; and why it was that the other 
people should have been left in their native state. This 
is a mistaken view ; for man did not, in early times, 
rise from barbarism to civilization, but he sank from 
civilization to barbarism. When for the wdcked attempt 
of the people, on the " plain in the land of Shinah," to 
build " a city and a tower whose top might reach unto 
heaven," " the Lord scattered them abroad from thence 
upon the face of all the earth," it is certain those people 
were a civilized people, and must have been acquainted 
with all the science of those times. Those of them 

26* (305) 



306 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

who colonized lands abounding in the necessaries of life, 
could remain in large bodies, build cities, and employ 
tlieir leisure in instructing their children in such branches 
of knowledge as had eno;aojed their own attention and 
study. But those who wandered into distant lands, 
where the soil was rocky or sandy ; where the forests 
were inpenetrable, or the morass impassable ; where 
the earth yielded but a scanty supply of food ; where 
man was dependent upon the chase for a living ; or 
where a large portion of his time was engaged in prep- 
aration for the coming months of a northern winter ; 
where the inhabitants were but few in number, and the 
families isolated ; and where science was not needed, — 
it would, as a consequence, follow, that their children 
would be instructed in little else than what was re- 
quired to gain a living ; and thus future generations 
would drop into that state of barbarism in which we 
find them in the present day. 

The aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland belong 
to this class. They are of American origin, and seem 
to be of the mountaineer type, from the interior of 
Labrador. But after they had crossed the " Straits of 
Belle Isle" to their island home, they assumed a na- 
tional character, and in time became different, both in 
habit and person, from their supposed ancestors. 

They called themselves " Boeothicks ;" but the set- 
tlers called them " Red Indians ;" from the fact of their 
painting their bodies and their wigwams with red ochre. 
Red ochre is found on the north shore of Conception 
Bay, and there is a small village on that shore called 
Ochre-pit Cove ;^voxn. a tradition that the Boeothicks of 
that region used to get their red ochre from that place. 

There is something fearful, and truly humiliating, in 
the thought, wherever civilized and Christian people, so 



THE RED INDIANS. 307 

called, come in contact with savage tribes, those tribes 
melt away, and in time become extinct. The reason is 
obvious : we plunder those tribes, and we give them 
our vices, but we withhold from them our Christianity 
which only can elevate, bless, and save them. Thus it 
was w^ith the Red Indian race. 

When John Cabot, in the year 1497, first sighted 
Cape Bonavista, the Red Indians possessed the entire 
island ; their canoes glided on its streams, or fished on 
its shores, while they had no fear of molestation on 
their hunting-grounds, or apprehension of the white 
man's bullet, as they passed through the woods to their 
humble wigwam beside the placid waters of the inland 
lake. But the Indians had large quantities of what 
the Europeans called wealth : it consisted in beautiful 
furs, the skins of animals taken in the chase. 

Newfoundland is one of the best huntino;-o;rounds 
upon the earth. Its surface contains 57,000 square 
miles. Over this extensive range of country, not one 
foot was cultivated, or a building of any kind stood, 
save the wigwams of its Indian lords. Here was 
abundance of game of all kinds peculiar to northern 
latitudes, — as the black bear, the otter, the wolf, the 
beaver, the red, the black, and the silver fox; the 
ponds were the home of the wild goose, for that bird 
breeds there ; while the barrens and open plains were 
alive with the caribou or reindeer. 

With the skins of animals taken in their extensive 
hunting-grounds were the Indians clothed ; and upon 
the same rich furs did they repose at night. This in- 
flamed the cupidity of the European furriers. They 
might have carried on a lucrative trade with them ; but 
no, they must have their rich furs without any compen- 
sation I They therefore shot them down in cold blood. 



808 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and took possession of their property. The Indians 
defended themselves as best they could, but the dart 
and the bow and arrow were their only weapons, which 
were useless against the fire-arms of the whites. They 
were driven from the coast, and sought refuge on the 
margin of, or on the islands in, the great ponds in the 
interior. Thither they followed them, or employed the 
Micmacs to follow them, until the whole race was al- 
most annihilated. No one thought any more of shoot- 
ing a Red Indian than of killino; the animal with the 
skin of which the Indian was clothed. 

It was about the commencement of the present cen- 
tury that the government avowed itself on the side of 
this oppressed race, declared the Red Indians to be 
British subjects, and placed them under the protection 
of British law. But it was too late for any practical 
good ; most of the tribe were destroyed, and it was 
impossible to inspire confidence in any white man, on 
the part of those that yet remained. 

A place called Bloody Bay, on the north side of 
Bonavista Bay, has often been named to the writer as 
a place where frequent encounters had occurred with 
the Red Indians. When the fishermen would be look- 
ing for bait, or getting wood from the shore, they would 
be assailed by a shower of arrows, and be obliged either 
to defend themselves with their fire-arms, or escape in 
their boats. In a place called Cat Harbor, some Indians 
came one night, and took all the sails from a fishing- 
boat. The next day they were pursued, and when 
seen, were on a distant hill, with the sails cut into a 
kind of cloak, and daubed all over with red ochre. 
Two men belonging to the party, who had gone in pur- 
suit of the Indians, were rowing along shore, when 
they saw a goose swimming in the harbor. It was a 



THE RED INDIAN3. 309 

decoy, for, while their attention was arrested with the 
goose, two Indians rose up from conceahnent, and 
discharged their arrows at them, but without effect. 

The government, however, now determined to defend 
the property, as well as the lives, of these people. In 
1810, an instance of this occurred in Green Bay, at 
the head of Notre Dame Bay. A man named Wilt- 
shear, and his crew, were returning from the fishing- 
ground, when, rounding a point of land, they came close 
upon a canoe where there were five Red Indians, — four 
men and one woman. The Indians were alarmed, 
pulled toward the shore, jumped on the beach, and ran 
to the woods. The men took the canoe and carried it 
home. In the fall of the year, they went to St. Johns 
with a boat-load of fish, and took the canoe with them 
as a present to the governor, but they were taken into 
custody, and put in prison, charged with murdering 
the Indians and stealino; their canoe. After beino; in 
prison ten days, and no evidence being produced against 
them, they were acquitted. The imprisonment of Will>- 
shear had a good effect, for we never after heard of any 
depredations being committed upon the Indians. 

A few years later, a lieutenant, afterward Captain 
Buchan, of H. M. schooner Pike, the same person who 
went in quest of the north-west passage, was commis- 
sioned by the governor, Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 
to discover, and, if possible, bring about a friendly inter- 
course with the Red Indians. He cruised up the Bay 
of Exploits, Notre Dame Bay, and at length came up 
with an encampment. He prevailed upon two Indians 
to come on board his vessel, but to effect this, he had 
to leave two marines with the Indians as hostages. He 
removed the vessel to another place with the Indians 
on board ; and when he returned to the encampment, 



310 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

he found his two marines with their heads severed from 
their bodies, and all the Indians had fled. The two 
Indians that were on board the Pike also escaped, and 
were never seen afterward. 

In the winter of 1819, in the month of March, ten 
armed men at the head of White Bay went into the 
country, came up with an encampment, and brought 
away the only person they found, who was a female. 
She was brought to St. Johns, for the government had 
offered a reward to bring a Red Indian to them, hoping 
by such means to commence a friendly intercourse with 
the tribe. But It was a mistake. This Indian woman, 
having been taken in the month of March, was called 
Mary March, when she came to St. Johns. While 
there, she was treated with every kindness, loaded with 
presents, and then taken back to the place from whence 
she came. 

Red Indian Pond, at the head of the River Exploits, 
was the home of Mary March. On its beach had she 
played in her childhood ; over its waters had she paddled 
in her canoe ; she had fished in its streams, and when 
she became a wife, it was on its margin ; she had been 
compelled to leave her husband, and her hapless infant, 
her only clilld, to die, which rumor says, it did, two 
days after the ruffian armed band of white men had 
taken her captive, and carried her, her friends knew 
not where. To take a savage woman captive, and 
bring her away by force, in order to open a friendly 
intercourse with her tribe, was a clear absurdity. It 
therefore failed. It w^ere wild to say, she was better 
off while In St. Johns than In her own country. She 
could not think so. The husband and child of Mary 
March were as dear to her as can be the partner and 
child of the titled lady ; the rough wigwam as much a 



THE RED INDIANS. 311 

home to her as a palace is to the prince ; her deer-skin 
dress as much admired as the costly costume of the 
fashionable belle ; and the wood-bound banks of the 
Red Indian Lake were as beautiful, in her eyes, as the 
rich landscape and the decorated pleasure-park are to 
the refined taste of the courtly lord. 

The manners of Mary March, while in St. Johns, 
were very pleasing, and there was a dignity about her 
which led to the conviction that she was the wife of a 
Boeothick chief. 

How loner she lived after her return, we have no 
means of knowing. But some years after, an explor- 
mg party visited the Red Indian Lake, and at its east- 
ern extremity, while they saw no people, they saw evi- 
dence that the shores of that lake had long been the 
central and undisturbed rendezvous of the Boeothick 
tribe. They found a number of their wigwams, a 
building for drying and smoking venison, and a log 
storehouse. They found wooden huts which were 
used as repositories for the dead. One of these huts 
was in size ten feet by eight, and four feet high in the 
centre. It was floored with squared sticks, and roofed 
with rinds, — well secured against the weather, and the 
intrusion of wild beasts. Two full-grown persons, 
wrapped in skins, were laid on the floor. It was com- 
puted that these persons had been dead not more than 
five or six years. But what excited our travellers 
most was the discovery of a white deal coffin, contain- 
ing a skeleton neatly shrouded in white muslin. This, 
it would seem, was the remains of Mary March. If 
so, the white muslin must have been among the 
presents she received when in St. Johns. Beside her 
were two small wooden images of a man and woman, 
supposed to represent Mary March and her husband ; 



312 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and a small doll supposed to represent her child. In 
the same building were models of boats and canoes, 
also a bow and a quiver full of arrows, with two fire- 
stones, or radiated iron pyrites, with which the Boeo- 
thicks produce fire by striking them together. There 
were also a number of culinary utensils, neatly made 
of birch bark, and ornamented. 

It was the arrival of Mary March in St. Johns that 
induced the Wesleyan missionary committee to make 
the following entry in their Report for the year 1820, 
in reference to the Newfoundland District : — 

" The attention of the public has lately been turned to the abo- 
riginal inhabitants of the interior, and, should any opening to 
these long isolated tribes occur, the brethren are directed to 
avail themselves of it to attempt their instruction." 

Four years after Mary March was brought to St. 
Johns, three others of the tribe were captured and^ 
brought to the same place. These were the last of the 
Red Indians ever seen. As the writer himself saw 
these persons, shook hands with them, and tried to con- 
verse with them, he Avill give the account from his own 
journal : — 

" St. Johns, Newfoundland, June 23, 1823. 

" Last week there were brought to this town, three Red In- 
dians, so called, who are the aboriginal inhabitants of this island. 
They are all females, and their capture was accomplished in the 
following manner. 

" In the month of March last, a party of men from the neigh- 
borhood of Twilllngate were in the country hunting for fur. The 
party went two and two in different directions. After a while 
one of these small parties saw, on a distant hill, a man coming 
toward them. Supposing him, while at a distance, to be one of 
their own party, they fired a powder gun to let their friend know 
their whereabouts. The Red Indian generally runs at the report 
of a musket : not so in the present instance. This man quickened 
his pa^e toward them. They now, from his gait and dress, dis- 



THE RED INDIANS. 313 

covered that he was an Indian, but thought he was a Micmac, 
and therefore still felt no anxiety. Soon they found their mis- 
take, and ascertained that the stranger was one of the Red In- 
dians. He was approaching in a threatening attitude, with a 
large club in his hand. They now put themselves in a posture 
of defence, and beckoned the Indian to surrender. This was of 
no use ; he came on with double fury, and when nearly at the 
muzzle of their guns, one of the men fired, and the Indian fell 
dead at his feet. As they had killed a man without any design 
or intention, they felt deeply concerned, and resolved at once to 
leave the hunting-ground and return home. In passing through 
a droke of woods, they came up with a wigwam, which they en- 
tered, and took three Indian females, which have since been found 
to be a mother and her two daughters. These women they 
brought to their own home, where they kept them until they 
could carry them to St. Johns, and receive the government re- 
ward for bringing a Red captive Indian. The parties were 
brought to trial for shooting a man, but as there was no evidence 
against them they were acquitted. 

" The women were first taken to government house, and, by or- 
der of his excellency the governor, a comfortable room in the court- 
house was assigned to them as a place of residence, where they 
were treated with every possible kindness. The mother is far 
advanced in life, but seems in good health. Beds were provided 
for them, but they did not understand their use, and they slept on 
their deer-skins in the corner of the room. One of the daugh- 
ters was ill, yet she would take no medicine. The doctor recom- 
mended phlebotomy, and a gentleman allowed a vein to be opened 
in his arm, to show her that there was no intention to kill her ; 
but this was to no purpose ; for when she saw the lancet brought 
near her own arm, both she and her companions got into a state 
of fury, so that the doctor had to desist. Her sister was in good 
health. She seemed about twenty-two years of age. If she had 
ever used red ochre about her person, there was then no sign 
of it in her face. Her complexion was swarthy, not unlike the 
Micmacs ; her features were handsome ; she was a tall, fine figure, 
and stood nearly six feet high ; and such a beautiful set of teeth 
I do not know that I ever saw in a human head. In her man- 
ners she was bland, affable, and affectionate. I showed her my 
watch : she put it to her ear, and was amused with its tick. A 
gentleman put a looking-glass before her, and her grimaces were 
27 



314 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

most extraordinary; but when a black-lead pencil was put into 
her hand, and a piece of white paper laid upon the table, she was 
in raptures. She made a few marks on the })aper, apparently to 
try the pencil ; then in one flourish she drew a deer perfectly ; 
and, what is most surprising, she began at the tip of the tail. One 
person pointed to his fingers and counted ten, which she repeated 
in good English ; but when she had numbered all her fingers, her 
English was exhausted, and her numeration, if numeration it 
were, was in the Boeothick tongue. This person, whose Indian 
name is Shanandithil, is thought to be the wife of the man who 
was shot. The old woman was morose, and had the look and 
action of a savage. She would sit all day on the floor with a 
deer-skin shawl on, and looked with dread or hatred upon every 
one that entered the court-house. 

" When we came away Sl\anandithit kissed all the company, 
shook hands with us, and distinctly repeated ' good-by.' 

" June 24. Saw the three Indian women in the street. The 
ladies had dressed them in English garb, but over their dress they 
all had on their, to them indispensable, deer-skin shawl ; and Sha- 
nandithit, thinking the long front of her bonnet an unnecessary 
appendage, had torn it off, and in its place had decorated her 
forehead and her arras with tinsel and colored paper. 

" They took a few trinkets, and a quantity of the fancy paper 
that is usually wrapped round pieces of linen ; but their great 
selection was pots, kettles, hatchets, hammers, nails, and other 
articles of ironmongery, with which they were loaded so that they 
could scarcely walk. It was painful to see the sick woman, who, 
notwithstanding her debility, was determined to have her share 
in these valuable treasures." 

After a few weeks, a vessel was sent to take the 
women to the place from whence they came. The 
ship's boat took all their things ashore ; then the 
women went, with great reluctance ; but when they 
were landed, and the boat was about to leave them, 
they cried, they screamed, and rushed into the water 
after the boat ; they would not be left. The captain 
was at a loss what to do. His orders were to put 
them ashore, and leave them. He felt that this would 



THE RED INDIANS. 815 

be cruel ; he, therefore, determined to leave them in 
charge of the person who brought them away, until 
the pleasure of the government was known. The or- 
ders were not repeated, so the women remained. The 
sick daughter soon died, and the mother did not live 
long with civilized people ; but Shanandithit survived 
for about two years, during which time she learned 
English, and became very useful as a house-servant. 

From her it was understood that her tribe was re- 
duced to a very small number ; and the reason she and 
her relations would not be left on the beach was that 
they would have been killed by their own people as 
traitors, as they had been among the white people, 
whom they considered as their deadly enemies. 

The writer is not aware that any Boeothicks have 
since been seen. Some suppose that the whole race is 
extinct; others that they have escaped across the Strait 
of Belle Isle to the main land of Labrador. But when 
it is remembered that there are thousands of s(piare miles 
of land in the interior, on which no foot of any civil- 
ized man has ever trod ; that there are numerous large 
'^ ponds," some of which might almost be called inland 
seas ; that there are large islands in those lakes, and 
immense forests on their margins, that we have never 
seen, — it may be that some sequestered spot yet con- 
tains a few of this persecuted and injured race, who may 
hereafter make their appearance ; which, should it be 
so, they assuredly will be treated differently, and with 
greater kindness than was ever shown toward their an- 
cestors. What a fearful thought that we, who have 
Christianity and the Bible, and who boast of our high 
state of civilization, should have destroyed a whole peo- 
ple, who did us no harm, until we commenced to mur- 
der them and take their property ! 



316 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The labor the Red Indians performed, in order to 
catch deer for their subsistence, was very great, as is 
evident from the remains of the deer-fences, whicli 
were standing only a few years ago. The deer is gre- 
garious, and the herds in Newfoundland sometimes are 
said to contain numbers that appear fabulous. 

During the summer they feed on the mountains of 
the north, and may be found in large numbers on the 
highlands near White Bay, or about the latitude of 50° 
or 51° ; but in the autumn, or near winter, they migrate, 
or, as the hunters say, they " beat to the south," and 
go near Cape Kay or the Bay of St. George. 

To catch the deer in their southern mioTation, and 
to provide food for themselves during wdnter, seems 
to have been the motive of the Red Indians in putting 
up their deer-fences. Inland from Notre Dame Bay, 
and far to the north-west of Red Indian Pond, a double 
line of strong fence was put up, which at its commence- 
ment diverged many miles. The southern fence ran 
down to the lake, so that the deer should thus come 
near their own encampments, and the northern line of 
fence was to prevent their escape near the shore. This 
northern fence ran down to the River Exploits, along, 
the bank of whicli another fence was raised, with open- 
ings at particular places for the deer to go to the river 
and swim across it. These openings were called passes. 
A number of men now got within the fence, and from 
the wider enclosure they drove them to the narrower 
part, or to passes of the river wdiere others were sta- 
tioned, and thus killed the deer at their leisure. These 
deer-fences extend thirty miles on the River Exploits, 
and how far in the interior no white man can tell. 

The present state of the Boeothick tribe, if, indeed, 
any of that tribe is in existence, is calculated to teach 



THE RED INDIANS. 317 

US that civilization and education, abstracted from the 
Bible and pure Christianity, can never raise a savage 
people from their degradation, or place them in their 
proper position among the tribes or nations of the earth. 
However civilization may distinguish the nation that 
has it, yet it does not possess the elements requisite for 
the amelioration of the human race. It may make a 
people proud and boastful, and, as knowledge is power, 
it may subdue surrounding nations, and impose its laws 
upon them ; but it lacks true philanthropy, and has no 
disposition to impart its knowledge to other nations, or 
place them in a position to rival themselves in wealth, 
intelligence, or power. 

The world has never heard of any civilized heathen 
nation, who founded hospitals for their own sick, free 
schools for the instruction of the children of their own 
poor, benevolently manumitting the slaves in their own 
land, sending teachers to instruct other people in their 
philosophical theories, colporteurs to circulate their sa- 
cred books, or missionaries to propagate their faith or 
system of theology in distant lands. All this is pecu- 
liar to Christianity. 

Rome, in the height of her civilization and power^ 
conquered the savage hordes of the north ; but they 
continued savage until the missionaries of the cross 
w^ent among them, and proclaimed the verities of gos- 
pel salvation. The same great nation visited the coasts 
of Albion, first for commercial purposes ; next she 
formed settlements there, and then subdued the country 
by the number and power of her legions. But it was 
the story of Gethsemane and Calvary that overthrew the 
Druidism of our ancestors, gave us our civilization, our 
constitution, our laws, and our liberty. Ever since the 
time that Vasco de Garaa found the way to India, South 

27 * 



318 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Africa has been constantly visited by men of education 
and science ; and these men of science told their breth- 
ren, in Europe, that Hottentots were so stupid and 
brutish, that you might as well think of making a 
turnpike to the moon as attempt their instruction. But 
Christian missionaries have instructed, civilized, and 
taught them the way to heaven. Scientific men visited 
the Polynesian Isles of the south, and were terrified 
with the cannibalism of tlie peo})le ; but the heralds of 
the cross went there with the Bible in their hands and 
the love of God in their hearts ; and with these they 
braved the club and the oven of these worst of all sav- 
ages, destroyed their unnatural appetite, taught them to 
read, gave them a code of laws based upon the Bible, 
have brouMit them to a knovvledoje of the truth, and 
now they are saved and in their right mind. 

Had the first visitors and settlers on the shores of 
Newfoundland carried the Bible with them, and in- 
vited the Christian missionary to accompany them, in- 
stead of poisoning the natives with their fire-water, 
slaying them with their gunpowder, or making them 
more corrupt with their own immoralities, the noble 
Boeothic race would now have been a happy people, 
either quietly transacting their business by the sea-shore, 
with foreign residents, or prosecuting their hunting in 
the interior ; while the hills and the vales, the woods 
and the lakes, would have resounded with their song 
of praise ; and thus would the words of the prophet in 
this place have been verified : *' The wilderness and 
the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert 
Bhall rejoice and blossom as the rose." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



STATIONS FOR 1825 — CONFERENCE DEATH-ROLL, — WILLIAM CROSCOMBE 

— SIMEON NOALL — CHARLES BATE — JOHN CORLETT — MERCIFUL 
PRESERVATION OF THE WRITER — STATIONS FOR 1828 — JOHN TOMP- 
KINS — JOHN SMITHIES — JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH — DR. TOWNLEY 

— MISSIONARY INCOME FOR 1828. 

THE following is tlie list of stations as appears in 
the minutes for 1825 : — 

St. Johns — William Croscombe, Ninian Barr. 

Carbon EAR — John Pickavant. 

Harbor Grace — John Corlett. 

Black Head and Western Bay — John Haigh. 

Island Cove and Perlican — Simeon Noall. 

Port de Grave — William Wilson. 

Brigus — Richard Knight. 

Trinity Bay — Adam Nightingale, Charles Bate. 

Bonavista and Catalina — John Boyd. 

Grand Bank and Fortune Bay — George Ellidge. 

Burin — William Ellis. 

Indian Mission, Esquimau Bay, on the Labrador 
Coast. — Richard Knight is lo spend the summer months 
on this station. William Croscombe, Chairman. 

Wesleyan missions now began to excite considera- 
ble interest throughout the Christian world ; and many 
wealthy persons contributed largely for their support and 
extension. In the year 1818, died that extraordinary, 
that saintly man, Robert Carr Brackenbury, Esq., of 
Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire. This gentleman gave up 
the pleasures of a splendid mansion for the life of a 
Methodist preacher. He, with Dr. Clark, became mis- 

(319) 



820 N'EWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

sionarles in the Island of Jersey. He gave liberally of 
his wealth, while he lived, to the cause of God ; and at 
his death, he bequeathed the sum of XIOOO to the Mis- 
sionary Society. The same year, a lady died in Ireland, 
Miss Houston, who gave a legacy of £2000 to the 
same cause. But the most princely sum the committee 
had hitherto received was a benefaction of j£ 10,000 
from the Rev. T. Dodwell, Vicar of Welby, in Lin- 
colnshire. This gentleman had been a personal friend 
of Mr. Wesley, and a warm friend to our missions. 
While the missions were under the direction of Dr. 
Coke, he contributed liberally to their support ; and 
after the death of the doctor, he sent his contributions 
to the anniversary meetings of the different missionary 
societies held in his neio:hborliood. 

The committee, in. their circular for 1822, gave this 
instruction to their missionaries : " We again call the 
attention of the brethren to the necessity of forming 
missionary societies, in aid of our funds, on every foreign 
station where practicable ; and, where that is not prac- 
ticable, at least to make a public collection annually, for 
this purpose, in all the congregations ; taking that oc- 
casion to inform the people of the extent, state, and 
prospects of our missions, and to interest them in the 
universal establishment of the kingdom of Christ in all 
the earth." 

This important instruction was soon observed ; for in 
the year 1824, contributions flowed into the missionary 
exchequer from nearly all the foreign districts. The 
report for this year credits the Newfoundland District 
with X59 5s. Id.j and the Nova Scotia District with 
X250 15s. 2d. The latter was a much larger sum than 
was raised that year in any foreign district within the 
range of Methodism. 



THE DEATH-UOLL. 321 

THE CONFERENCE DEATH-ROLL. 

The fourth question asked at every conference is, 
" What ministers have died since the last conference ? " 
Immediately all business ceases, and the most solemn 
attention is paid while a sketch of the life of each 
minister, whose death has occurred since the last 
conference, is read. This is called " the- death-roll." 
Sometimes this roll is short ; at other times it is very 
long. The greatest number of deaths which the East- 
ern British American Conference has had to record in 
one year was four ; but the British Conference, in 
1860, had thirty-one deaths in Great Britain, four in 
Ireland, and three on the foreign stations, — making a 
total of thirty-eight ministers, belonging to the British 
and Irish conferences, who were called away in one 
year. 

As the roll is read, while every preacher endeavors 
to acquiesce in the divine will, yet they are but men, 
and feel as men ; therefore, as each name is announced, 
the brethren will be more or less affected as the de- 
ceased had filled his position in the conference. To 
one he was a spiritual father ; to another a special 
friend, a companion, and more than a brother : to one 
he was a kind superintendent ; to another he was a 
zealous, faithful, and devoted colleague. In years past 
he might have instructed the conference by the pro- 
fundity of his thouglit ; directed it by the wisdom of 
his counsels ; defended it from its enemies by the pow- 
er of his pen ; or charmed it with his eloquence. He 
might have been a president, — Avhen the junior breth- 
ren would think, with deep gratitude, of the important 
advice he gave to them in his ordinary charge. Every 
one feels the loss ; but all believe the departed was a 
man of God. Many eyes will overflow with tears of 



822 • NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

gratitude at the statement that the departed successfully 
combated '' man's last, man's latest foe ; " that he felt 
the supporting power of that religion which he had 
preached to others ; and that he died in peace ; then 
with hearts oppressed with sorrow, the brethren rise, 
and with lips still quivering, and voice still faltering, 
unite and sing those beautiful words of Charles Wesley, 
found on page 399'; — 

" Oh, may I triumph so, 

When all my warfare's past, 
And dying, find my latest foe. 
Under my feet at lust ! " 

In addition to those already named, the death-roll 
records the followino; honored brethren : — 

1. William Croscombe, who was a native of Tiver- 
ton, in Devonshire, England, and was born on the 19th 
of February, 1789. In the eighteenth year of his age, 
he became acquainted with the Wesleyans, was deeply 
convinced of his guilty state, and at a Sabbath morning 
prayer-meeting was enabled to rejoice in the liberty of 
the sons of God. A few months after his conversion, 
he began to exhort others " to flee from the wrath to 
come ; " and, having exercised his talents for a short 
time as a local preacher, he was received into the reg- 
ular work, at the conference of 1810, and as the 
junior preacher, was appointed to the Shepton-Mallet 
Circuit, in the Bristol District. 

The next year he ofi'ered for the foreign work, and 
was appointed to what was then called the Nova Sco- 
tia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland District, of 
which William Black was chairman. Mr. Croscombe 
arrived at Halifax on the 12th of April, 1812. On 
the way, the vessel put into St. Johns, Newfound- 
land. St. Johns was not then a Wesleyan Circuit, 



WILLIAM CROSCOMBE. 323 

but the brethren Ellis and Mc'Douell occasionally 
preached there, and Mr. Croscombe, during his brief 
sojourn, also preached to that people the words of life 
and salvation. He was then in his twenty-third year ; 
his hair was light, and his appearance very youthful ; 
he preached with considerable effect, and his style and 
manner so arrested public attention, that they called 
him the " eloquent white-headed boy." He labored 
seven years in the lower provinces, when, his health 
failing, he returned to England, and travelled in Not- 
tingham two years ; after which he was appointed to 
Gibraltar, where his labors were greatly blessed both 
to the army and also among civilians. His next ap- 
pointment was St. Johns, Newfoundland. The remi- 
niscences of the friends in that place called to mind the 
" white-headed boy," who had, twelve years before, 
preached there with so much acceptance. His appoint- 
ment as their minister, therefore, was hailed with pleas- 
ure, and a crowded house greeted him on his arrival. 
He remained in St. Johns three years, during which 
time he filled the office of chairman of the district. 
He did not occupy any other circuit in Newfoundland 
than St. Johns. In 1828, he came a second time to 
Nova Scotia ; and after seven years, he removed to 
Canada, where five more years of his useful life were 
spent in the same delightful employment of calling sin- 
ners to repentance. In the year 1838, he came again 
to Nova Scotia, and continued to labor until the year 
1851, when infirmity compelled him to retire from ac- 
tive work and take a supernumerary position. After 
he became a supernumerary he preached occasionally 
as his strencrth enabled him. The last sermon he ever 
preached was on Sabbath, December 31st, 1851, from 
James iv. 14, — " For what is your life ? It is even 



824 JfEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

a vapor that appearetli for a little time, and then van- 
isheth away." Shortly after returning from the house 
of God he was seized with paralysis, which seemed to 
keep him on the verge of eternity for several months. 
From the severity of this attack, however, he rallied, 
but his feebleness was very great, lie bore his sulfer- 
ings with much patience and serenity of mind ; he felt 
abiding peace ; praise dwelt upon his lips, and his con- 
versation invariably turned upon the things of God; 
the salvation of God was his only theme, and the blood 
of Christ his only hope. On the night of the 20th of 
August, 1859, he fell asleep in Jesus, in the seventy- 
first year of his age and the fiftieth of his ministry. 

Mr. Croscombe successively occupied the chairman- 
ship of the Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Canada 
districts ; and while his prudence and integrity secured 
for him the full confidence of the missionary com- 
mittee, his gentlemaJily deportment and his Christian 
kindness gained for him the love of all his brethren, 
and the esteem of the people. He was a faithful and 
kind friend, cheerful in his manner ; his piety was 
simple and ardent, and he conscientiously endeavored 
to enjoy all those blessings and that full salvation 
which he preached to others. 

He labored much to make his pulpit duties accept- 
able to his conorecration, and he seldom failed in his ob- 
ject. His preaching was plain, scriptural, and earnest. 
Pastoral visitation was his delight, and by it he en- 
deared himself to all classes who attended his ministry. 
He was more or less successful in every circuit where 
he travelled, and in several places extensive revivals 
were the result of his faithful and zealous labors. 

2. Simeon Xoall was a native of Cornwall, entered 
the Wesleyan ministry at the conference of 182-A, and 



CIIAKLES BATE. 325 

came out a missionary to Newfoundland. He labored 
on the island for five years with very great acceptance. 
He was kind and affectionate in his manner, faithful, 
zealous, and successful in his pastoral duties; he was a 
good jjjatform speaker; his preacliing was })lain, yet 
eloquent, earnest, and highly scriptural ; his sermons 
were rich in evangelical truth, often delivered with 
telling power, and in prayer he was truly mighty. In 
the youth of our church he felt dc^ep interest, and was 
incessant in his efforts to instruct them and lead them 
to God. Many were the seals to his ministry in dif- 
ferent parts of the island ; but his constitution was 
too feeble to endure the hardships .attendant upon a 
missionary life ; he therefore returned to England in 
the year 1829. By breathing his native air, his health 
was much improved ; so that he labored in different 
circuits for nineteen years with the same esteem and 
success that he had in Newfoundland. He became a 
supernumerary in 1848, in the Hayle Circuit. He 
continued to employ his remaining strength, until he 
was suddenly called away from suffering to rest, on the 
4th of August, 1850, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, 
and the 26th of his ministry. 

3. Charles Bate was received on trial a Wesleyan 
minister at the conference of 1824, and came to New- 
foundland in the autumn of that year. He labored 
on the island for nine years, and in 1833, he removed 
to St. Kitts' one of the West India Islands, and in 
the Antigua District. He labored in the West Indies 
eight years, and died in great peace at Tortola on the 
16th of December, 1841. 

In the above list of stations there are thirteen names, 
but the reader must understand there were not thirteen 
preachers then on the Newfoundland District. Mr. 

28 



826 NEWFOUNDLAND AND IT3 MISSIONARIES. 

Barr was removing, and his English appointment was 
not then fixed ; and one man was retained in order to 
supply the Labrador. The number of our men and 
the number of our stations were eleven ; the same in 
1825 as they were in 1817. 

Of the preachers who constituted the Newfoundland 
District in 1825,' the death-roll records seven ; two are 
laid aside by infirmity, and four only are now (1864) 
in the active work. The men who are still spared to 
labor in their Master's vineyard are John Boyd, John 
Corlett, George Ellidge,* and the writer. 

We have previously spoken of John Boyd, and -of 
the two other brethren we give the following infor- 
mation : — 

Georfi^e Ellido-e was received on trial as a Wes- 
leyan minister in the year 1822 ; he travelled two 
years in England when he was appointed to labor in 
Newfoundland. He continued on that mission for 
twenty-four years, and returned to England in the 
year 1848 ; since which time he has continued to la- 
bor in his native land. In 1863, his name stands as 
superintendent of the Attleborough and New Bucken- 
ham Circuit in the Norwich and Lynn District. 

John Corlett commenced the itinerant in 1824, 
and was stationed at Kendal, in the Carlisle District. 
He came to Newfoundland in 1825, and labored there 
with much acceptance for five years. 

In the summer of 1826, Mr. Corle t made a mission 
tour to the north, and visited Green's Pond, which 
lies some forty miles to the north of Bonavista, and 
was then our most northern station. That region of 
country was then in a fearful state of demoralization. 

* Since writing the above, notice has been received of the death of the 
Eev. George Ellidge. 



JOHN CORLETT. 327 

There was indeed an Episcopal Church, and one of the 
readers belonging to the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; but swearing, drunken- 
ness, Sabbath-breaking, and gross immorality were 
carried to such an extent that Green's Pond was often 
called the Sodom of the North. Mr. Corlett in the 
journal of his visit says, — Sunday, July 2, 1826, — 

" We landed this morning at Green's Pond, about four o'clock ; 
after lying down to rest for an hour and a half, I was quite re- 
freshed, and went to inform the principal inhabitants of Green's 
Pond what were my intentions in visiting them. I walked through 
the harbor to see what the people were doing, and found as I had 
previously heai'd that the merchant's stores were all open. I saw 
some purchasing shoes, others, fishing-materials, provisions, &c. In 
a word, I found that Sunday is what may emphatically be called 
the market day at Green's Pond. The people are not, however, 
so abandoned as with one consent to prosecute the fishery on the 
Sabbath day ; although there are individuals who send their boats 
out on Sunday, as they say, to be ready on Monday. I was in- 
formed by the most res.pectable persons residing in Pond, that 
during the winter season it is a very common and almost general 
thing to go shooting seals and birds on the Sabbath day. The 
people who were not employed were standing or lying on the 
rocks, rehearsing the news, and the children in groups playing, — 
in truth and reality, without any person to care for their souls. 
I resolved, as I could not preach in the church, that I would 
preach at the church-door as the people came out. But there was 
no church service. I presume the person who read the prayers, 
had been counselled to dispense with praying on that day. The 
weather proving unfavorable, I therefore preached in one of Mr. 
Garland's stores. A more tumultuous company I never saw 
assembled together. I almost despaired of arresting their atten- 
tion ; but after singing a few verses, I prayed and received no 
further interruption except from a few sons of Bacchus, who were 
within ; and a few of the ' baser sort,' who stood without 
blaspheming. When retiring, a few who knew not what spirit 
they were of reviled and swore, and said I should be thrown 
into the water." 



328 KEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Mr. Corlett closes his interesting journal with the 
following observations : — 

" Green's Pond is in great want of a missionary. There are 
about five hundred Protestants, and one hundred Catholics ; be- 
sides there are Protestants at the following places, which may- 
be early visited, with the happiest effects, several times a year, as 
most of them are contiguous to the Pond, and all have intercourse 
with it: Middle-Bill Cove, Pinchard's Island, Swain's Island, 
Fool's Island, Gooseberry Island, and Pouch Island, — on most of 
which many Protestant families reside who rarely hear the glad 
tidings of salvation." 

Of the state of public feeling he says : — 

" I plainly perceive that, owing to various circumstances, they 
are greatly prejudiced against us. Those who have formed illicit 
connections are against us, and those who enrich themselves by 
the ignorance of the poor are against us. The poor themselves 
are against us, because, say they, ' they do not allow of killing 
birds, hunting seals, or going fishing on Sabbath days ; neither 
do they approve of having dances, singing songs,' &c. ; and, 
besides, they say, ' we are no Christians, though we were christened 
long since.' The Prince of Darkness, whose empire this is at 
present, will, I have no doubt, take the field against us ; but yet, 
were the door providentially opened to us, none of these things 
need move us." 

After a lapse of thirty-six years, Mr. Corlett's hopes 
m reference to Green's Pond have been realized. In 
our minutes for 1861, we read, " Green's Pond to be 
supplied." The next year it received an appointment ; 
for in the station-sheet we read, " Green's Pond, John 
S. Allen;" and in the minutes for last year (1863), 
Green's Pond returns twenty members in society, and 
twenty-four on trial, and four dollars as its first contri- 
bution toward the mission fund. 

In the year 1824, Mr. Corlett left Newfoundland, 
and has ever since been laboring very successfully in 
different islands of the West Indies. 



MERCIFUL PRESERVATION. 329 

In the minutes for 1863, liis name is down as super- 
intendent of the Spanish-town and Linstead Circuit, in 
the Jamaica District. 

Before proceeding with our narrative, we may be al- 
lowed here to give a short account of the merciful 
preservation of the writer from perishing on the ice, 
during a journey in Trinity Bay, Saturday, Feb. 9, 
1822. From my journal : — 

" Wednesday last was the day for me to have left this place 
(Old Perlican) for Hants' Harbor, but was prevented by a snow- 
storm. Toward night, the storm increased, and the thermometer 
fell to about 16° below zero. On Thursday morning, the storm 
was at its height ; severe was the cold, fearfully howled the wind, 
and the snow was raised In such suffocating clouds that it was 
dangerous to go out of the house. Toward night, however, the 
weather had considerably moderated. Friday was calm ; the sun 
rose with great brilliancy, and the day throughout was fine. In 
the evening, a man called upon me to say that several persons, 
were going up the bay in the morning, and I had better hold my- 
self in readiness to accompany them ; for, although we could not 
get along on the land because of the heavy snow-drifts, yet we 
could get up the bay on the ice. We left Perlican, at day- 
light, in three companies, thirteen persons in all, one of whom 
was a female. We struck oif directly for the headland near Hants' 
Harbor. The morning was clear and calm, and there was every 
probability of getting to our journey's end early In the afternoon. 
About nine o'clock, a light breeze of wind sprung up from the 
west, and a haze came on the land, but not sufficient to hide It 
from our view. As we were passing a deep Indent in the land, I 
chanced to look toward a point of land that we had passed an 
hour before, and were then only just abreast of It, and called the at- 
tention of my company to the fact. We halted, and immediately 
saw that the whole mass of ice was moving down the Bay, at 
about the same rate that we were walking up ; and that we must 
reach the shore, or be carried Into the open ocean and perish. 

" Our company, consisting of four persons, was nearest the land; 
we fired a gun as a signal to the next company, and they repeated 
the signal to the outer company, with which company was the female. 
28* 



830 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

We made for a prominent point of land, but soon found we had 
formed a very large angle to the eastward and could not fetch it, 
and must strike the land a long way below the point. As we got 
near the shore, the ice began to separate into small pans, and, as 
it consisted of but little more than the frozen snow, foi-med during 
the late storm, it often gave way under our feet, and but for our 
gaffs we must have been drowned. The ice did not reach the 
shore, so that, with our gaffs, we had each to get a pan of ice for him- 
self and push himself, toward the land. But no pan of ice would bear 
a second person. It always broke under him. Our party 
reached the shore safely, although very wet ; and we watched, 
with deep anxiety, the arrival of our companions. The second 
party reached the shore with but little more difficulty than we 
had experienced ; but, by the time the third party had arrived, 
the ice was quite gone from the shore, and they had to go down 
the shore a considerable distance before they dared attempt to land. 
The poor woman, exhausted and much alarmed, fell into the wa- 
ter repeatedly, but was rescued, and all reached the shore 
through the kind providence of our heavenly Father. We now 
kindled a fire by the seaside, and endeavored to dry ourselves ; 
but the west wind was cold, and our clothes froze on us, not- 
withstanding our fire. The day was fast advancing, and we 
had to leave our encampment, and proceed on our journey. 
We reached Hants' Harbor a little after dark, very cold and ex- 
cessively fatigued, but thankful that we had thus been saved from 
drowning, or perishing on the ice." 

All our winter journeys were not like the above, for 
ofttimes they were very pleasant : it was so with my 
return from Hants' Harbor. My journal contains the 
following entry, Wednesday, February 15th : — 

" Left Hants' Harbor for Island Cove, distance eighteen miles, 
at nine o'clock. The day was calm, the weather beautiful, and the 
walking excellent. Passing through the Hants' Harbor woods, we 
came to a lake seven miles long, called Pitten's Pond, crossed it, 
and a few miles further, we came to high table-land, from whence 
we had a most commanding view of the whole surrounding coun- 
try. Our course was east-north-east, the sun was a little past his 
meridian altitude, and therefore on our right hand, in looking 



NEWFOUNDLAND STATION. 831 

along the ridge of the land, it was an extended barren covered 
with its mantle of snow ; numerous ponds were to be seen in 
every direction, with here and there a ' droke ' of woods ; and the 
thick forest skirting the seashore. To the south were the waters 
of Conception Bay, calm and placid, with the high lands on the 
shore reflecting the sun's rays from their snow-capped summits ; to 
the north-west the waters of Trinity Bay, and the whole margin of 
its northern shore presented a similar appearance, although the re- 
flecting of light was less brilliant, owing to the different position of 
the sun ; while directly in our front the rocky and desolate island 
of" Bacalieu, dividing the waters of these two great bays, was dis- 
tinctly visible ; and far in the distant horizon were the waters of 
the great western ocean, without a billow or breeze to agitate its 
glassy surface. We untied our ' nunny-bags ' and took our re- 
past on this elevated land, and, after enjoying the scenery for 
some two or three hours, began to descend toward the shore of 
Conception Bay, when this beautiful panorama view vanished, 
leaving us the only pleasure of a retrospect and telling to other 
people the scenery we had beheld, and the pleasant journey we 
had had." 

In the minutes for 1828, the Newfoundland station- 
sheet reads thus : — 

St. John's — John Pickavant. 
Carbonear — John Haigh. 
Harbor Grace — John Corlett. 
Black-head and Western Bay — Richard Knight. 
Island Cove, and Perlican — Charles Bates. 
Port de Grave — William Ellis. 
Brigus — John Boyd. 
Trinity Bay — Simeon Noall. 
Bona VISTA and Catalina — John Tomkins. 
Grand Bank and Fortune Bay — A. Nightingale. 
Burin — George Ellidge. 
Hants' Harbor — John Smithies. 
Indian Mission, Mission Esquimaux Bay, on the 
Labrador Coast — William Wilson, 

Of the Esquimau Mission we have ah'eady given a 
full account, and there is no need of any repetition on 
that subject. 



o6"Z NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Two names occnr in the above list, to which the at- 
tention of the reader has not been before directed. 

1. John Tomkins commenced to travel in the year 
1827, and his first appointment w^as Hants' Harbor. 
He continued to labor in different circuits on the 
island until the year 1833 ; wdien he removed to 
Canada and w^as appointed to Quebec. Canada then 
was all included in one district, w^ith only ten preach- 
ers, and 2,094 members. Brother Tomkins still lives 
and labors in Canada, and he has witnessed its prog- 
ress for thirty years, during which time, fi'om the 
above small " foreign district," it has become a mighty 
independent connection, with twenty-five districts, five 
hundred and thirteen ministers, a membership of near 
sixty thousand, and carrying the light of the glorious 
gospel as far west as the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

John Smithies commenced to travel at the confer- 
ence of 1828 ; and also was first appointed to Hants' 
Harbor. He labored on the island nine years, when in 
1837 he removed to Abaco, in the West Indies ; and 
after two years he w^as appointed to Swan River, 
Western Australia. He labored in Australia for 
twenty-four years. During that time our cause in 
Australia and Van Dieman's has increased, from three 
districts with thirty-five ministers and a membership 
of 1,878, until it, like Canada, has also become a great, 
independent conference, with seven districts, one 
hundred and seventy-tw^o ministers and preachers on 
trial, and with a membership, of more than 30,000. 
Besides it has seven local preachers; it has also its 
academic and collegiate institutions, a book-room, 
two ofiicial journals, and a missionary ship. In 
1859, John Smithies stood on the minutes, for Lang- 
ford, in Tasmania. 



JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH. 333 

The missionary income for this year was X 43,235 
7s. 9c?. Our total missionary membership Avas 34,892. 

Two years before tin's, the British conference, and 
almost the whole connection, had to mourn the loss of 
one of its noblest and best laymen, In the death of 
Joseph Butter worth, Esq., of London. Mr. Butter- 
worth had long served his country as member of 
Parliament. For thirty years lie had been a class 
leader, and a great promoter of Sabbath schools ; 
he was treasurer of our missionary society, and 
connected with all the great religious and philan- 
thropic movements of the day. At the time of his 
funeral, which took place in London, the city of 
Dover, wdiich he had represented In Parliament, 
and wdiich Is seventy miles distant, closed all Its 
shops as on the Sabbath, and tolled its bells the 
chief part of the day. In the minutes of the con- 
ference for 1826, when speaking of the death of Mr. 
Butterworth, we read the following: — 

" Nor was there anything which related to the stability, exten- 
sion, or success of the Wesleyan missions, into which he did not 
enter with an affectionate and constant interest. Great is the 
loss which our missionary society has sustained by this bereave- 
ment. But it becomes us to bow with submission to the dispen- 
sations of Almighty God, and to commit his great cause, in all its 
departments, by a renewed act of faith, to his special care ; trust- 
ing in his promises, and remembering, that while the strong are 
not efficient without him, the weak, in his hand, shall become as 
the ' angel of the Lord.^ " 

A few years before the death of Mr. Butterworth, 
the Episcopal clergy of Newfoundland tried to get 
an Imperial act of Parliament that should ex- 
clude the Wesleyan ministers from the right to 
celebrate marriage, and It was by the influence of 



334 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

that gentleman in the House of Commons, that this 
desio;n was frustrated. 

In the autumn of 1827, the official circular of the 
committee reached Newfoundland ; a copy of which now 
lies before me, and bears the signatures, — " George 
Morley, James Townley, John James," 

Two of these names occur here for the first time in 
our narrative. James Townley, D. D., was educated 
by the Rev. David Simpson, author of the "Plea for 
Rehgion." He commenced his labor as an itinerant 
preacher in 1796, and travelled for thirty-six years. He 
was missionary secretary five years, and filled the office 
of president at the conference of 1829. He was a 
most amiable and learned man. His literary character 
was very respectable. He was master of several lan- 
guriges, and was noted as a great biblical scholar. His 
literary attainments gained for him the title of d. d. 
He died in peace, and in the full triumph of faith, on 
the 12tli December, 1833. 

John James filled the office of secretary also for five 
years. The minutes of conference say of him : " He 
was distinguished through life by steady and fervent 
piety and inflexible integrity, united to great affability, 
cheerfulness, and generosity. As a preacher he was at 
once eloquent, sound, ardent, and exceedingly useful. 
He died suddenly on the 6th of November, 1832, in 
the 47th year of his age, and the 26tli of his ministry. 

The year 1832 was a year of great mortality among 
the advocates and managers of our missionary society. 
The committee in the conclusion of their report for this 
year say : " Two of the general secretaries, and two 
other members of the committee, have been removed in 
the short space of a few months fi-om the scene of their 
labors to their everlasting reward." First on the list 



MISSION FUND. 335 

stands the name of the Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke ; he 
died on the 30th of Sept., aged seventy-two years. The 
second was the Rev. Thomas Stanley. '' In him," 
says the report, " the society has lost a steady friend, 
while the church has been deprived of a faithful minis- 
ter and pastor. His attention to business, his judicious 
counsel, and his affable manners secured for him the 
esteem and affection of the committee." He died on 
the 9th of October. The third was the Rev. John 
James, who died as already stated on the 6th of No- 
vember. The fourth was the Rev. Richard Watson, 
who died Jan. 8th, 1833. 

As the funeral knell of these servants of the Lord, 
these supporters of our missionary cause, sounded 
across the Atlantic Ocean, and along our rock-bound 
shores of Newfoundland, deep sorrow took possession 
of the minds of the missionaries, as they remembered 
the kindness they had each received from those departed 
saints, and the Christian and fatherly advice contained 
in those annual circulars which from year to year were 
sent by them for our guidance ; as well as for the inter- 
est they took in our concerns, and for the manner in 
which they regarded our requests and supplied our 
necessities. 

These provinces at that time began to feel their duty 
in reference to the mission fund. The report made up 
to December 31st, credits Nova Scotia with X305 13s. 
3c?. ; New Brunswick with X329 135. M. ; Newfound- 
land with X103 65. Td missionary money. These 
moneys were raised in these provinces mostly by sub- 
scription, although the public collections were included. 
In Newfoundland there were only seven subscribers 
besides the missionaries. Of the £103 13s. 3c?., £74 
16s. 4(?. were raised in five public collections, as follows : 



336 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

St. John's, X 24 13s. Harbor Grace, X 15 9s. Carbon- 
ear, X15 lis. M. Port de Grave, X8 14s; Brigus, 
£1S 9s. These were noble collections, and now that 
subscriptions are taken up over the district, as well as 
collections, the missionary income of Newfoundland is 
more than four times as much in 1863 as in 1828. And 
it will yet increase. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO MISSIONARIES — TRAVELLING IN NEWFOUNDLAND — 
REMOVALS — SUMMER TRAVELLING — WINTER TRAVELLING — A 
JOURNEY OVER THE COUNTRY — JOURNEY OF MESSRS. KNIGHT AND 
TOMKINS — JOURNEY OF JAMES HICKSON. 

IN the instructions to the Wesleyan missionaries, 
given to them at their ordination, and pubhshed in 
every annual missionary report down to the present 
day, is found the following ; — 

" Instruction VIII. It is peremptorily required of every mis- 
sionary in our connection to keep a journal and send home fre- 
quently such copious extracts of it as may give a full and particular 
account of his labors, success, and prospects. He is also required 
to give such details of a religious kind as may be generally inter- 
esting to the friends of missions at home ; particularly, accounts of 
conversions. Only we recommend to you, not to allow yourselves, 
under the influence of religious joy, to give any high coloring of 
facts, but always write such accounts as you would not dislike to 
see return in print to the place where the facts reported may have 
occurred." 

The writer felt himself absolutely bound to this in- 
struction, and he therefore commenced his journal with 
the very commencement of his missionary life. That 
journal now lies before him, and from its pages, as well 
as from his remembrance of past events, he now begs 
to give the reader some miscellaneous information in 
reference to Newfoundland. 



. TRAVELLING IN NEVS^FOUNDLAND. 

In a country where all the inhabitants were engaged 

(337; 



§38 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



in maritime pursuits, where agriculture as a business 
was not followed, where a horse was but seldom seen, 
and where roads had never been made, the Christian 
missionary, like the people, would have a life of great 
exposure and toil. Such was the case when the writer, 
in 1821, received his first appointment to an out-harbor 
circuit. In removing to our stations, our conveyance 
was a fishino:-boat, our luo;o;no;e would be stowed in the 
fish-lockers, and covered with a tarpaulin to keep it 
from the wet ; our females and children would, in a 
storm, crowd into the cuddy ^ — a sort of cabin, aft, of 
about six feet lono;, in which standino; was out of the 
question, but in which we could sit upright by taking 
the floor as a stool. The preacher himself generally 
took his stand in the aftey^ standing-room, alongside the 
skipper, where he would be exposed to all the weather, 
where the spray from the weather bow would strike 
him, and wet him to the skin. If he were not sick, 
passing a fishing-boat, or a headland, the white sail of 
a square-rigged vessel, as seen in the distance, a flock 
of sea-birds, the blowing of a whale, or the sluggish 
rolling along of "sea-hog" or porpoise, would excite 
his attention, and beguile his weary moments, and his 
hand would be u})on the helaying-pin^ ready to haul in 
or slack out the main-sheet, as occasion might require. 
But if he or his family were sea-sick, as was almost 
sure to be the case, then every mountain wave that 
arose, every time the fragile bark would be hurled into 
the trough of the sea, every time a reef was taken in 
the sails or let out, every time the boat was hove to or 
bore away, every shift of wind or change of course, 
every creak of the rudder, and, above all, every time 
the sea would strike the boat, fresh nausea would be 
produced, some want would be expressed in the cuddy 



TRAVELLING IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 339 

by liis crying children or his suffering wife, to which he 
could not attend, while his sliivering limbs and per- 
sonal weakness would prompt him often to ask. Skipper, 
is the wind free ? Does it blow as hard as it did ? Is 
the sea abating? and When shall we reach the harbor? 
This is not a fancy picture, but the result of many 
years' experience ; for often has the writer been for days 
and nights in a situation like that described above ; and 
04ice in particular he made a passage from Burin to St. 
Johns in a fishing-boat, when we were driven out of 
sight of land in a gale of wind ; while his family were 
prisoners in a wretched cuddy ^ which, for size and 
comfort, might, like the old Papist prison, be termed 
" Little Ease,'' himself was for four days and live 
nights in succession, under the open canopy of heaven, 
exposed to the wind, the rain, and snow, of the latter 
of which in one night there fell three inches. 

SUMMER TRAVELLING IN THE CIRCUITS. 

This was very laborious, as we had to climb high hills, 
wade the streams, and plunge through the mire of the 
marshes, with our bundles on a stick, and carried upon 
the left shoulder, while our persons were denuded of 
coat, sometimes of vest and neck-cloth likewise ; and, 
when wearied or hungry, we would doff our bundles, 
partake of the collation therein contained, drink from 
the purling brook, and, after resting for a time under 
the shade of some tree, would again pursue our journey 
toward its terminus. As our mission stations were 
mostly on the necks of land that separate the large 
bays from each other, the streams in our way were 
fordable in summer, for the water shed on those necks 
is not sufficiently extensive to produce navigable rivers. 
Brook was always the term used for oui' streams ; but 



840 ' NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

late in the fall, we would sometimes be breast high in 
fordinff these brooks. 

In travelHng, we never wore boots ; for they were 
useless to keep us dry, as we would always get over the 
tops of any boots we could put on when wading our 
numerous brooks. We were always careful to have 
good soles on our shoes, to keep the feet from injury by 
the rocks, over which we had to walk ; but a small hole 
in the side of the shoe we would rather have than not, 
as it allowed the water to escape when we got on the 
hard land, and thus prevented friction in walking. 
When we arrived at our place of destination, and en- 
tered the house, the kind hostess, who knew that we 
were fatigued and wet and often very hungry, always 
met us with a smile. The hospitahties of h«r house 
were offered to us, and the kindness of her heart was 
shown by addressing us with, " I am glad to see you ; 
come, walk in, sit down ; take off your shoes and stock- 
ings, and I will get a cup of tea in a few minutes." 
Thus did kindness make us forget our fatigue, and lead 
us to exclaim, " What would we not do, and what labor 
would we not undertake, for those who so kindly re- 
ceive us, and who listen, with so much attention, to the 
gospel of salvation which we have come hither to 
preach ? " 

WINTER TRAVELLING. 

To understand this, we would remind the reader that 
the term woods was used in a threefold sense : thus, a 
hat of woods meant a small, isolated patch of woods in a 
barren ; a droke of woods meant a ])iece of wood, wheth- 
er large or small, on the sides of two opposite hills, 
with a valley between them ; but the term woods, when 
used alone, has no reference to situation or extent. 

The barrens are a sort of table-land, elevated from 



WIJCTER TKAVELLIXG. 841 

six hundred to one tliousand feet above tlie level of the 
sea. Over tliese dreary barrens we had to travel in the 
winter season, with the thermometer often 15° below 
zero ; and, as in these journeys we had to walk over a 
trackless country, and there was a possibility of our 
being out all night, we usually made preparation to 
meet contingencies. 1. We went in company of from 
two to four persons ; seldom did one travel alone. 2. 
Each man had a nunny-bag, which is a kind of knap- 
sack, made of seal-skin, with the two fore-fippers pass- 
ing over the shoulders, and tied across the breast with a 
piece of cod-line. In our nunny-bag, we carried dry 
stockings, a change of linen, with any papers we might 
require. We also iiad in our nunny-bag two days' pro- 
visions ; and, as lucifer matches were not then known, 
we carried the old-fashioned tinder-box, with flint and 
steel, also an extinguished firebrand, so as to facilitate 
the kindling of a fire if necessary. 3. We had each 
a pair of rackets^ or Indian snow-shoes, with Indian 
moccasins on our feet, and buskins on our legs. 4. We 
had a hatchet to cut wood for our fire, and one or two 
guns, in case we met with any deer or other game. 
Thus equipped, with the addition of a pocket-compass, 
we would commence our journey. Often would each 
man's load be upward of twenty pounds in weight. 
We generally selected a moonlight night as the time for 
crossing the country, and generally left at four o'clock 
in the morning. After going on some wood-path to 
its end, we took the woods, and climbed the hills, the 
nearest way to the barrens. If it were early in the 
season, so that we had frost without snow, or very late, 
so that the driven snow was sufliciently hard to bear 
us, in either case our journey was generally pleasant, 
because we could go in a straight line to our place of 



842 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

destination. But, if it were stormy, the journey would 
be a long one, and often attended with danger. 

A journey like this, the winter once made, while on 
the Grand Bank Circuit. He had been to Burin to 
visit brother Ellis, and, in company with three men, 
was returning home, a distance of some forty miles. 
On arrivino; on the barrens, we found the snow very 
deep ; so that, notwithstanding our rackets, or snow- 
shoes, we often sank to our knees in snow. To go 
across the country the whole distance to Grand Bank 
was impossible. We, therefore, strove to reach the 
shore of Fortune Bay, somewhere in the vicinity of 
Great Garnish. The distance to this place was some 
twelve miles ; and one mile an hour was the most wS 
could accomplish with our snow-shoes. A little before 
sunset, we came to a hat of woods, under the lee of 
which, we untied our nunny-bags ; and, after taking 
some refreshment, we held a consultation as to whether 
we should try to reach the shore, still some miles dis- 
tant, or kindle a fire and remain in this hat of woods 
for the night. Our pilot gave it as his opinion that 
we should have a severe storm before morning ; so we 
determined to proceed, and reached the shore about six 
o'clock. It w^as on the 27tli of January, long after 
dark, and the moon was not up. We then directed 
our way down the shore, in expectation of finding 
some place inhabited by human beings. We had gone 
but a short distance before one of my companions 
refused to travel any further, and threw away his gun. 
I took his gun, and threw away my rackets ; and, 
after some remonstrance, urged him to make another 
effort to proceed. Soon another of the company laid 
himself down to sleep. I shook him violently. " Let 
me sleep," said he, " only a few minutes and T w^ill go 



WINTER TR WELLING. 343 

on." I said, " No, you shall not sleep at all, for if jou 
sleep, you will never wake again." Presently he was 
aroused, and we moved on to a point of land where 
we met the coming storm in all its fury. We retreated 
for shelter under a high bank, when one of my com- 
pany, in utter despair, said, '' I will lie down here and 
die, for we shall perish before the morning." We now 
tried to fire off our guns, but the powder was wet. 
We strove to make a fire, but our tinder was wet. 
Still, there was one alternative : we might be quite 
near some dwelling, and if we made a shout, our voice 
might reach some ear that would come to our relief. 
We were led to this by seeing, as we thought, a re- 
flection in the atmosphere as from a fire. Three of us 
shouted together, when, to our great joy, a human 
voice, in reply, was heard from the thick bush just 
over our head ; and immediately two men made 
their appearance, each with a flaming firebrand, and 
gave us a hearty welcome to the hospitalities of their 
winter tilt. Supper was soon prepared, although 
then about twelve o'clock ; most of our party were too 
much exhausted to be roused, so they slept until the 
morning. We had been in the tilt, but a short time, 
before the storm became terrific ; and, had we not ob- 
tained a shelter, it was scarcely possible we could have 
survived. We were much fatigued, and my feet were 
much chafed with the rackets, and my face and my right 
ear severely frozen. 

In the winter of 1833, two of our ministers nearly 
perished in one of those winter journeys, — Messrs. 
Knight and Tomkins. They left Heart's Content for 
Carbonear, and as the distance was only a few hours' 
walk, and the weather seemed favorable, they left without 
a guide, a gun, or a pair of rackets, and with but a scanty 



3-44 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

supply of provision. When tliey reached the barrens, 
it became foggy ; then a " snow-dwie^^^ that is, a shght 
snow-shower, came on ; another, and another " dwie " 
followed, until it became a heavy snow-storm. They 
were now lost ; but they wandered on, and about night- 
fall they came to woods, but what woods they knew not. 
In the dark they strove hard to pass the woods and get 
on some shore ; but all was in vain, — brother Tomkins 
could proceed no further. They had no means of mak- 
ing a fire, and their food was all used. The snow was 
up to their hips, but tliey found a level spot of some 
thirty feet in length ; there they trod a path, on which 
they continued to walk to and fro for the space of 
more than twelve hours. The night was dark and cold, 
their clothes were torn to raojs in gettincr throuo;h 
the " tuckemore bushes," the storm howled fearfully, 
the trees were falling around them in every direction 
by the violence of the wind, and they were ex- 
hausted with wet, cold, and hunger ; repeatedly did 
Mr. Tomkins sit or fall to the ground, and request his 
companion to allow him to take rest on the snow-clad 
ground, if but for a few minutes. Mr. Knight, who 
possessed great powers of endurance, a strong muscu- 
lar frame, and a corresponding vigorous mind, could 
not grant that request, but shook him, rubbed his 
limbs, and sometimes dragged him along, knowing as 
he did, that if his brother slept there, he would wake 
no more until the ''last trump should wake the slum- 
bering dead." Frequently, during the slowly revolving 
hours of that memorable night, did these servants of 
the Lord " pray and make supplication to the God of 
heaven," knowing that he would interpose in their 
behalf, and deliver them from their perilous position. 
He heard their prayer, he preserved them during the 



WINTEK TRAVELLING. 345 

darkness of the night ; and just as the dawn of the next 
day broke from the eastern skies, the crowing of a 
cock told them of their proximity to a human dwehing, 
which if they could reach, they were sure the hand of 
reli'ef would be extended to them, shelter would be 
cheerfully given them, and their wants supplied accord- 
ing to the circumstances of whomsoever should be 
found as occupants of that sylvan abode. They took 
courage, plunged through the snow and thicket, and 
reached this '' winter tilt," about eight o'clock, just as 
the storm was subsiding, and the sun, now orient in his 
course and glorious in his splendor, was bringing the 
blessings of another day to the inhabitants of the land. 
In this tilt they obtained food ; but what was to them 
of greater importance, they had a good fire, and took 
a good rest. After some hours of repose, they procured 
some articles of clothing from the host, and then 
directed their steps along a beaten path, thankful and 
happy, although suffering in their limbs from the effects 
of the frost, toward that now more than ever endeared 
home, where smiling countenances would welcome 
them, the prattling of the little ones would dissipate 
sorrow, and the heaving heart would rejoice for such a 
preservation and such a deliverance. 

I will mention one more case, illustrative of the diffi- 
culties of winter travelling by our missionaries in days 
of yore. The missionary notice for December, 1820, 
contains an extract from the journal of the Rev. James 
Hickson, giving an account of his journey from Old 
Perlican to Hants' Harbor. It reads thus : — 

" Feb. 9. Walked to Hants' Harbor, the snow very deep, the 
cold intense, having six men in company, some of whom, having 
recently found mercy, went purposely to tell their friends that they 
had found the Lord. Just before I got there, I was quite ready 



846 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

to make my bed in the snow, and give up the ghost. But through 
mercy I was strengthened to finish my twenty miles' journey by 
taking a morsel of bread which one of the company happened to 
have in his pocket. If my journey had been much further, the 
consequence would have been, that I must either have perished 
in the woods, or have been carried out by my tired company. 
With their remaining strength they were willing to do this if re- 
quired and possible. A part of my feet were so '■frost-bit rut,' (a 
phrase used for frost-bitten, or fiozen) that when I came to my 
friend Mr. Tilley's, I liad to sit some time by the fire before the ice 
could be sufficiently thawed to take my shoes off. I could do nothing 
that night though much wanted, but strive to rest my weary limbs. 
" Wednesday, 23. To day I went half way to Perlican, and 
spent the night in the woods among the ' Tilts,' where several of 
the inhabitants reside for the convenience of getting fire-wood 
in winter, and materials for the use of the fishery in summer. In 
one of these tilts, I held a prayer-meeting ; and, though small, it 
will be remembered by some who were present, when they have 
spent ages in eternity. On the 24th I went on to Perlican, and on 
the morning following had six men to break a path for me through 
the snow to Island Cove." 

Newfoundland is now quite a different place. It now 
has fine roads aloncr the shores of its principal bays, 
and across several of its necks ; it lias fine horses, with 
carriao;es and sleiMis, — comforts wliich the fathers of 
the present generation never knew. Our ministers, too, 
have good times of it. They can remove to their cir- 
cuits in large vessels or steamers. They can travel 
their circuits on horseback, and are in consequence 
exempt from those exhausting journeys which the pio- 
neers of Methodism had to perform. 

We cono-ratulate the inhabitants on this crreat im- 
provement in their country, and hope it will continue 
to improve ; and we congratulate our' brethren on the 
com[)arative ease with which their circuit labor can be 
performed, and the leisure they have for study and 
for pastoral duties, and pray their Improvement may be 
obvious, and " their profiting may appear to all." 



CHAPTER XV. 

CUSTOMS — MODE OF TRANSPORT — DRINKING HABITS — HOUSES — GAR- 
DENS — WEDDINGS — FUNERALS — LITERATURE — EDUCATIOJi — C. F. 
ALLISON — SACKVILLE ACADEMY — ST. JOHNS ACADEMY. 

EVERYTHING was brought to the " stage-head " 
in boats, and as there were no carts and but very- 
few horses, human muscular power would have to do 
the trucking. The dry fish would be cari-ied down from 
the fish-house in the hand-barrow ; and the oil-casks filled 
in the oil-house were rolled to the stage-head and par- 
buckled into the boat. The parbuckle is a double 
rope passed round a cask, one end of which is made 
fast, and the other end is hauled upon, by whicli the 
cask is made to roll either up or down the stage-head. 
Salt is hauled up with a block and tackle and carried 
in a hand-barrow. Molasses is parbuckled up the 
stage-head, then rolled to the store. Coals are hauled 
and carried in a covel, — that is, a barrel with a strong 
stake passed through or near the upper hoops. Flour 
is parbuckled up, and then slung upon a stake and car- 
ried between two men. Lumber and wood are handed 
up and carried upon men's shoulders. 

DRINKING HABITS. 

Fifty years ago spirituous liquor, particularly rum, 
was considered almost a necessary of life. The fisher- 
man could not do without it. How could he stand 
" the pitiless pelting of the storm," without a little 

(347) 



848 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

drop of rum to keep the cold out? When he 
went off to the fishing-ground, he must have a little 
for good luck ; when he came in with a good '* put 
of fish," he must take a horn for joy. If it were a 
warm day, he could not take a drink of water, be- 
cause it would make *him sick, and to avoid such a ca- 
tastrophe in the fishing season, he must put a little rum 
in the water, or take a drink of calehogus, which is rum 
and spruce beer. This was his favorite drink. If he 
were about to take a journey in the winter, he must 
take a little before he left, to keep the cold out, and a 
pocket pistol (a small bottle) he must take with him, 
lest he should be overtaken in a snow-storm and per- 
ish ; and if he got frozen, there was nothing like rum to 
wash the part with. If a tradesman were employed, he 
must have three drinks a day ; or what he called his 
morning^ his eleven^ and his evening. If there was a 
house-raising, or even a church-raising, there must be 
rum. If a friend called, he must take a drink ; and if 
he called upon his friend, the act was reciprocated. 
Rum was plentifully supplied at weddings, and almost 
equally so at funerals. Wines and spirits were in 
every house, and in many of the merchants' houses 
they were used in great profiision. One man, an 
agent in a northern harbor, used to say, that he al- 
lowed a puncheon of rum a year for the use of his own 
household. To the west, the merchants and agents 
w^ould sometimes, as they were wont to express it, 
" give each other a benefit : " that meant, to invite a 
number of gentlemen to the house, and try which could 
drink most before he was drunk. One of these dissi- 
pated men once told the writer, " what a benefit he 
had given his friends recently." " I would drink," 
said he, " go out, be sick, return, drink again, so that 



DRINKING HABITS. 349 

I soon laid them under table, while I could do my busi- 
ness as usual." But let it be recorded, that this man 
died in the prime of life from the effects of his dissi- 
pated habits. 

Vessels from Newfoundland traded with most of the 
countries where inebriating drinks were manufactured, 
and brought them to the island in large quantities. 
Rich wines were brought from Madeira and Oporto ; 
sweet wine from Malaga ; cordials from Hamburg ; rum 
from the West Indies ; French brandy from St. Pe- 
ter's ; besides all that was imported from Great Britain 
and Ireland. Such importation had a fearful hold upon 
the community. Bloderate drinking no one thought 
wroncr at that time : absolute drunkenness was indeed 
condemned, but it was always palliated with the ex- 
pression, " He has got a little drop too much, — never 
mind him." 

Twice was the writer in danger from the use of rum 
on the part of drunken skippers. The following en- 
tries appear on his journal : — 

" Nov. 11, 1820. Left Harbor Grace at 8 o'clock for Portugal 
Cove ; it blew a gale of wind from the S. W. Our skipper was 
much under the influence of strong drink, when he came on 
board. When about halt' passage he took more rum, which total- 
ly unfitted him for managing the boat. We arrived off the east- 
ern end of Belle Isle, when it blew a perfect hurricane. Portugal 
Cove was full in view, but our skipper swore it was Belle Isle, 
and he put the helm up to go round it. Our danger was now 
imminent ; the men refused to obey their skipper, the sea was 
beating over us and filling our boat, and we were rapidly driving 
out toward the ocean. A young man, a passenger, ran aft, and 
pretended to join in opinion with the skipper, when he adroitly 
pushed his hand from the tiller ; he rolled to ' leeward ; ' and, be- 
ing helpless, was unable to rise. In the mean time we ' hauled our 
wind,' and 'fetched the Cove.' Thus, by the kind providence 
of our heavenly Father, were we all saved from a watery grave. 
30 



350 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONAKIES. 

" Au<Tust 14th, 1826. Left Burin for the Flat Islands at six 
o'clock. The boat's creAV consisted of only two men, both Roman 
Catholics. There were a bottle of rum on board and a keg of 
spruce beer. When we got out into the bay, the men began to 
mix the rum and spruce beer, and drink freely of this cale- 
bogus. The wind began to freshen, and we were running among 
the reefs. One of the men said to me, ' Parson, you don't drink 
with us ; you had better take a drop of calebogus to keep out the 
cold.' In an instant the thought struck me what to do. I replied, 
' Thank you ; have you any rum in the bottle ? ' ' Oh, yes, there 
is plenty for your reverence.' I stooped down and emptied the 
bottle into the bilge-water ; poured some spruce beer into the 
basin, stood up, and with the usual, ' Here is a good time to us,* 
boldly took my drink of spruce beer. Soon my companions were 
either cold or thirsty again, but the rum was all gone, so they had 
to drink the spruce beer alone. But they could not think of that. 
Presently one of the men, arousing from a sort of revery, said : 
' Pat, the merchants in Burin are great rogues ; they sell their 
rum too high, so that we could only get one bottle for our trip. I 
think one or tw^o of us had better join and get a puncheon of rum, 
and then we should have plenty. But it is no use talking ; here 
is a terrible night coming on, and we have not a drop of rum 
on board ; let us haul our wind, and get into Paradise ; we will 
get some rum there.' I remonstrated ; besides, I added, ' Paradise 
is a rather singular place to look for rum ; ' but remonstrance was 
useless ; my companions could not think of perishing for a drop 
of rum, when they might get their wants supplied in Paradise, 
wliich we could reach with but little effort. We made the effort, 
but just as we got to the entrance of the harbor, the wind blew so 
violently, that we were obliged to bear up, and run into the Flat 
Islands' Harbor in the night, where we struck upon a sand-bank, 
and the ebb tide left us dry. The next flood took us off, and 
through mercy we landed in safety." 

The use of exhilaratins drink was then a universal 
practice ; and fond parents often unthinkingly taught 
their children the habit, by giving them a little drop in 
a teaspoon when they were in their infancy. Cowper 
translates a passage from Homer's Iliad, which describes 



DRINKING HABITS. 351 

this custom exactly. Phoenix is represented as address- 
ing Achilles in the following words : — 

" Nor wouldst thou taste thy food at home, till first 
I placed thee on my knees, with my own hand 
Thy viands carved, and fed thee, and the wine 
Held to thy lips ; and many a time in fits 
Of infant frowardness, the purple juice 
Rejecting, thou hast deluged all my vest 
And filled my bosom." 

The evil was a shocking enormity. We have seen 
the fond parent present the wine or diluted spirits to 
the infant lips, which, as in the case of Achilles, was 
at first rejected, but afterwards was drunk with avidity. 
We have seen the parent himself, only a moderate 
drinker, teach his youthful son to take a little in mod- 
eration, and we have seen that youth, when arrived at 
manhood, become a confirmed drunkard, and when 
reproved by his father, now heartbroken because of 
his son's delinquencies, would reply : " It is your 
fault ; you taught me the habit of drinking, and the 
guilt is yours." We have seen the young man of 
education and promise, — onewdio had already employed 
his talent in public speaking, and seemed likely, at no 
great distance of time, to fill a high judicial position in 
his native land ; but his once temperate habit gave 
way to excess, and while yet a youth he was brought to 
a drunkard's g-rave. We have seen the talented medi- 
cal man, who was well acquainted with the chemical 
properties of alcoholic drinks ; wdio would forbid their 
use to his parents ; but he took a little to stimulate him 
wlien under fatigue, the habit grew upon him, until 
taken with delirum tremens, when he died in agony 
and despair. And we have known the Christian min- 
ister of acknowledged piety, and commanding talent ; 
he at first took a simple glass with a friend ; the habit 



852 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

gained upon him, until at last he forfeited his station 
in the ministry, brought disgrace upon the cause of 
religion, became a stumbling-block to many, was ex- 
pelled from the church of which he had once been 
the revered pastor, with no prospect before him, but 
wretchedness, ruin, misery, and death. 

With this gigantic evil Wesleyan ministers had to 
contend in all parts of Newfoundland. In thousands 
of instances the victory w^as on the part of religion and 
truth. We are thankful that a different state of things 
now exists, and different views are entertained by large 
portions of the population in Newfoundland ; that 
our hardy fishermen there now see that rum is not 
good either to keep the cold out, or the heat out ; that 
it is an evil as a beverage, and injurious as a stimulant ; 
that more work can be done without it than with it ; 
that its use at funerals is a cruelty, and at w^eddings 
an absurdity ; and that the drinking habits of society 
are an unmitigated evil, and ought universally to be 
abandoned. We congratulate our friends in New- 
foundland upon the change in public opinion as to the 
supposed utility of inebriating stimulants. 

Moderate drinkino; often leads to drunkenness, which 
has brought more poverty Into helpless families, been 
the fruitful source of more crimes, hurled down more 
men from rank and influence, has filled more jails and 
lunatic asylums, brought more dishonor upon Christian 
ministers and Christian churches, has brought more 
human beings to a premature grave, sunk more men 
and women into the gulf of fire, than has any other 
sinMe crime of which human nature has ever been 
guilty. 

HOUSES. 

The houses in the out-harbor were all built of 



HOUSES. 353 

wood ; the better sort were neatly shingled ; the com- 
mon houses, or tilts, were covered with boards, or 
spruce rinds. In entering the house, on the one hand 
was a neat parlor, and on the other hand a kitchen 
with a very large fireplace called the " chimney-cor- 
ner." A neat carpet would cover the parlor, but the 
kitchen-floor would be covered with a blue sand taken 
from the sea-shore, and prettily drawn into diagonal 
lines, with a broom, by the skill of the industrious 
housewife. One or two sleeping-rooms would be 
found on the ground floor ; but the dormitories for the 
family would generally be upstairs. The furniture 
was plain, and the beds always clean and comfortable. 
The merchants' houses were good buildings, well 
finished and well furnished. 

Cooking-stoves were then unknown. The fire was 
made upon the hearth, and the wood supported by dog- 
irons. If the fire required a second tier of wood, it 
was supported upon the lower tier, by small sticks 
called triggers, which were placed crossways. A large 
stick was placed against the back, a smaller one in 
front, and a lesser one still in the middle. The wood 
was sometimes quite green, and hence making a fire 
was quite an art, and required back-junks, fore-junks, 
middle-junks, triggers, splits, and brands ; and the fish- 
ermen would sometimes say whoever can build a good 
fire with green fir can build a boat. 

Across the chimney, some seven or eight feet from 
the hearth, was a bar of wood or iron, called the pot- 
bar. On this pot-bar was hung the cotterall and pot- 
hooks, which sustained the vessels u^ed for culinary 
purposes. Nobody had an oven, but baking was all 
done in the bake-pot. The food would not always sat- 
isfy the appetite of the epicure, but it was generally 



354 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

substantial and o;ood. In the winter we would cret 
fresh beef, but in'^the summer season, salt meat was 
generally used. Bread, that is, sea biscuit, was always 
on the table, and soft bread, or the raised loaf, was 
used when the mistress had time to bake it. Fish, 
cooked in some way, was used at almost every meal, 
but the toasted fish was truly delicious. Spruce beer 
was in every house, and was freely used by the people. 
The absence of scurvy in the country may perhaps, in 
part, be attributed to the free use of the black-sj)ruce 
beer. 

Here let me bear my sincere and unreserved testi- 
mony to the universal kindness and hospitahty of the 
Newfoundlanders. I never heard of a Newfound- 
lander closino; his door to the strancrer, refusing the 
contents of his larder to the hungry, or tying his purse- 
strings when the calls of religion and humanity were 
made upon him. He is liberal according to his means, 
and I have seen in a case of famine, which I shall 
hereafter mention, a poor man and a poor widow shar- 
ino; their last morsel with their necessitous and starvin^^ 
neighbors. To their ministers they were always kind. 
If any little nicety came into their possession, it was 
sure to be kept until the preacher came ; and for the 
fourteen years that I travelled there, I never paid a 
cent for travelling expenses, except in the packet across 
Conception Bay. 

GARDENS. 

Near the house is the garden, enclosed either with a 
picket or a wattle fence. The garden seldom con- 
tains much variety ; potatoes and other culinary vegeta- 
bles, with a few currants and gooseberries, would gen- 
erally fill the catalogue. The women do most of the 



WEDDINGS FUNERALS. 855 

cultivation, and tliey have but little time from the busi- 
ness of the fishery. In most of the settlements there 
were some few persons who kept a cow or cows, and 
made a little butter ; but goats' milk was used to a 
great extent. 

W^EDDING5. 

A wedding in an out-harbor was quite an affair. 
Neither a license nor the publication of banns was re- 
quired for the performance of marriage ; and frequently 
the minister knew nothing about it, until the party 
arrived at the mission-bouse. The ceremony was 
usually performed in the church, when the flag would 
be hoisted, at which signal almost the whole community 
would assemble to see the " couple made happy." 
As soon as the party came out of church, a number 
of guns would be fired over the heads of the bride and 
bridegroom, and also over the head of the parson, as a 
salute, which would be occasionally repeated until we 
reached the house. Here the invitation would be 
given to dinner, which would some-times be so general 
as to include all hands. At the dinner there were great 
profusion and drinking, as was then the custom ; but 
rioting and disturbance of the public peace were not 
known. It was not the habit of the Newfoundlanders 
to insult or annoy any person ; much less would they 
do so in the presence of their minister. 

FUNERALS 

Were always attended by large bodies of people ; 
and particularly was this the case if the deceased were 
an aged person, or much respected in the community. 
Spirits and sweet-cake were given at the house. The 
corpse was always taken into the church, where two 



356 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

lessons and the whole funeral service were read, and the 
entire matter made as ceremonious and as imposing as 
possible. A fimeral sermon must always be preached ; 
and however the person might have lived and died, it 
was expected the preacher would preach him into 
heaven. And, in order to secure this, some one would 
go to the preacher just before he entered the church, 
and tell him, what perhaps neither he nor any one else 
ever knew before, about the goodness of the deceased, 
what he did and what he said while sick, and expect 
all this and a great deal more In praise of the dead 
would be repeated from the pulpit. Sometimes the 
party calling upon the preacher would have very low 
views of experimental religion, or what was compre- 
hended in " dying in the Lord." Once the writer was 
called upon by a man to attend the obsequies of his 
wife, and he wished a very good character to be given 
of the deceased ; but all the Information he gave was 
she had been a good wife, had diligently attended to her 
domestic concerns, and had taken care of his property. 
Not feeling much disposed to repeat this in the pulpit, 
because he doubted its truth, the bereaved husband 
in the exuberance of his conjugal affection, repeatedly 
and very audibly exclaimed while the service was going 
on, "Oh, she was a good wife, she never robbed me, nor 
plundered me, and besides she was such a fine hand 
for the garden ! " 

Funeral sermons are preached all over these prov- 
inces, as well as in Newfoundland ; and the practice 
seems to have originated when the population w^as 
sparse, and when the preacher's visits were like angels' 
visits, " few and far between." When the scattered 
inhabitants were collected at the funeral of a fi'iend, it 
was certainly both a wise and good arrangement to 



FUNERALS. 357 

preach to them the words of hfe and salvation. But 
in places where ministers are regularly stationed, the 
same necessity does not now exist ; yet the same prac- 
tice is still followed. If the deceased had been emi- 
nently pious, or died very happy, it is a deliglitful duty 
for the minister to tell the cono-recration how that soul 
was saved, and went triumphant home to God ; but if 
the individual had notoriously lived without religion, 
had died in sin, or had given no satisfactory evidence 
of having experimental converting grace, what can the 
preacher say ? To tell the people he believes the de- 
ceased had gone to heaven would be contrary to his 
conscientious conviction ; and to point thereto as a 
warning to others, would be to offer an insult to the 
whole family connection. When the minister does say 
anything about the dead, it sometimes happens that one 
party will complain, " The preacher did not say as 
much about my friend as he might have said;" while 
another party would tauntingly reply, " If the preacher 
had known as much as I know, he would not have said 
what he did." Would it not be better, as a general 
thing, to call preaching, at such times, sermons at 
funerals, rather than funeral sermons ? 

In the year 1786, — the very year Jolm McGeary 
w^as appointed missionary to Newfoundland, — Mr. 
Wesley gave the following advice to the preachers, 
which, having been sanctioned by the conference, is 
our Methodistic law : — 

"Never preach a funeral sermon, but for an eminently holy 
person ; nor then without consulting the Assistant. Preach none 
for hire. Beware of panegyric, particularly in London." ^ 

1 Minutes of Conference for 1786. 



358 * NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 



LITERATURE. 

Of this we cannot say much in reference to the times 
of which we are writing. The aduk population in the 
out-harbors had not in their youth the educational ad- 
A^antages which are experienced by children in the 
present day. They had come from the rural popula- 
tion of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and the Chan- 
nel Islands ; and, while those countries were then, as 
now, the land of light and knowledge to the wealthy, 
yet they presented but few opportunities for the poor 
to acquire even the commonest branches of education. 
It were folly to expect anything else than that those 
uneducated British emio-rants would brino; with them 
their national peculiarities, and their provincial dialects, 
which nothing but education could remove. But it is 
questionable, after all, whether their ignorance was 
more palpable than was the ignorance of the peasantry 
in the districts from whence they emigrated ; and cer- 
tain it is, the pronunciation of the English language 
by the fishermen is no way inferior to the pronunciation 
as heard in many country places in their father-land. 
There was a fault somewhere. That fault was not in 
the people. They could not educate themselves ; and, 
when by their hard labor and industry they had acquired 
means to pay for the education of their children, the 
teachers were not within their reach. Neither religion 
nor learning is innate in the human mind. Every 
child born into our world is both ignorant and wicked ; 
so that both learning and religion are to be acquired. 
And, as Newfoundland then had no teachers of her 
own, they must be found elsewhere ; yea, they must 
come from the very country from whence the people 
themselves had emio;rated. 



LITERATURE. 359 

In the early history of the country, one cause of 
fault was in the English merchants, who, while they 
gained almost boundless wealth through their New- 
foundland trade, yet would not pay one penny for the 
moral or intellectual improvement of the people, but 
whose maxim seems to have been, " Keep the fisher- 
men urdettered and in ignorance, then we can rule 
them, and profit by our trade." The other cause af 
fault was the supineness of the Christian church in 
Britain, who, while the children of their land had 
through necessity been compelled to seek the means of 
gaining a living by the toils of a Newfoundland fishery, 
had totally neglected to supply them with the benefits 
of an evangelical ministry, or send them teachers for 
the education of their children. 

The Newfoundland mind is the English mind ; and 
many of the sons of our hardy fishermen, if they had 
the opportunity, would master the whole curriculum 
of university study, and matriculate with as much 
honor as any recluse of Oxford or Cambridge. 

A fisherman in Trinity Bay, in his childhood, had 
been taught but little more than the alphabet ; but he 
taught himself to read. He read theology, biography, 
history, and poetry. With Milton, Young, Cowper, 
Thomson, Pollock, and other English poets, he was 
very familiar ; and, without a teacher, he acquired a 
knowledge of arithmetic, geography, astronomy, trig- 
onometry, and navigation ; and, had classical books 
and books on other sciences been within his reach, he 
would have mastered them also. 

As few people could then read, books were scarce, 
but what books were found v/ere always of an instruc- 
tive and useful character. Among our own people 
where books were found, we were sure to see Wesley's 



860 NEWFOUISDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Appeal, Wesley's journals, or his sermons ; sometimes 
the whole of liis works. Also, Fletcher's Appeal, his 
Checks, or the whole of his works. Mrs. Stretton, the 
relict of the gentleman whose name has previously oc- 
curred in this narrative, had a very excellent library. 
She had the whole of Wesley's works in sixteen 
volumes, his Christian Library, in fifty duodecimo vol- 
umes, his philosophical works ; also, Fletcher's works 
complete, all our magazines, with some autograph 
letters from Mr. Wesley, together with a choice col- 
lection of history, travels, biogi'aphy, and other books 
of a similar character and tendency. 

Forty years since there were two newspapers pub- 
lished in St. John, " The Royal Gazette," and " The 
Public Ledger." Mr. AVinton, the editor of " The Pub- 
lic Ledger," was an intelligent, and a courageous man, 
and for his courage in exposing some of the doings of 
the Roman Catholic priesthood, he was waylaid be- 
tween Harbor Grace and Carbon ear, by a number of 
men in masks, who knocked him down and cut off 
both his ears close to his head, and left him weltering 
in his blood. He recovered, however, and attacked 
the evils, to which he had previously called the pub- 
lic attention, with more determination than he had 
ever done. He wore a pair of artificial ears, made of 
velvet, after this event. Several other papers have 
come into existence, since 1825, and are generally con- 
ducted with considerable tact and talent. 

EDUCATION. 

The first movement to obtain a seminary of learning 
under Wesleyan influence, and for the benefit of the 
youth connected with the Wesleyan church in the 
lower provinces, was at the Nova Scotia District meet- 



EDUCATION. 361 

ing, held in Windsor in the month of May, 1828, 
when it was unanimously resolved, to establish a 
seminary of learning under the auspices of the Wes- 
leyan Society, for the accommodation of the children 
of their numerous friends in this and the neighborino; 
provinces, and a committee was appointed to select a 
suitable place for the institution. 

This committee met at Halifax on the 21st of May 
following (1829), and the circular on the subject 
reached Newfoundland early in the autumn. From 
this circular we learn, that the committee consisted of 
the Rev. Messrs. Black, Croscombe, and Young, also 
John A. Barry and John L. Starr, Esqs., with Messrs. 
Martin G. Black and John Harvis, as corresponding 
secretaries. The committee contemplated the estab- 
lishment of an institution that should be competent to 
impart a thorough classical education, and that at a 
charge within the means of persons of moderate in- 
come. But the site of this academy was soon an 
insurmountable difficulty ; gentlemen from Halifax, 
from Horton, Bridgetown, and Amherst, all claimed 
to have it in their respective localities. Thus the ob- 
ject was frustrate,d and the matter of a Wesleyan 
Seminary was kept in abeyance ten years longer, until 
God put it into the heart of the noble-minded, and 
sainted Charles F. Allison, of Sackville, in the Province 
of New Brunswick, to give a large portion of his 
property to found an institution exactly like that which 
had been contemplated by the Nova Scotia preachers. 

That excellent man expended four thousand pounds 
in the erection of an academical institution, which for 
convenience, for chasteness of architecture, and beauty 
of situation, is unsurpassed by any similar institutions 
in these provinces ; and munificently deeded the whole 

31 



862 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

with seven acres of land to trustees forever, for edu- 
cational purposes. 

As the Sackville institutions are now so identified 
with the well working of Methodism in these provinces, 
we shall be excused if we give an account of them 
more in detail. 

The Sackville Academy was properly a Centenary 
G'lft^ for it was presented in the year 1839. The fol- 
lowing is a copy of the letter of presentation : — 

" To THE Chairman of the New Brunswick District. 

" St. John, N. B., Jan. 4th, 1839. 

" Rev. and dear Sir, — My mind has of late been much im- 
pressed with the great importance of that admonition of the wise 
man, ' Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is 
old, he will not depart from it.' The establishment of the schools 
in which pure religion is not only taught, but constantly brought 
before the youthful mind, and represented to it as the basis and 
groundwork of all the happiness which man is capable of enjoy- 
ing on earth, and eminently calculated to form the most perfect 
character, is I think, one of the most efficient means, in the order 
of Divine Pi'ovidence, to bring about the happy result spoken of 
by the wise man. 

" It is therefore, under this impression, connected with a persua- 
sion of my accountability to that gracious Being, whom 1 would 
ever recognize as the source of all the o-ood that is done in the 
earth, that I now propose through you to the British Conference, 
and to the Wesleyan missionaries in the Provinces of New Bruns- 
wick and Nova Scotia, to purchase an eligible site, and erect suita- 
ble buildings in Sa(,'kville, in the County of Westmoreland, for 
the establishment of a school of the description mentioned, in 
which not only the elementary but the higher branches of educa- 
tion may be taught; and to be altogether under the management 
and control of the British Conference, in connection with the 
Wesleyan missionaries in these provinces. If my proposal should 
be approved of, and the offer I now make, accepted, I will pro- 
ceed at once to make preparation, so that the buildings may be 
erected in the course of the next year ; and I will as a further 
inducement, by the blessing of (iod, give toward the support of 
the school, one hundred pounds per annum for ten years. 



EDUCATION. 363 

" I shall be glad to hear that my offer is accepted, and to have 
the earliest information of your decision on the subject. 
" I am, Rev. and dear Sir, 

" Yours sincerely, 
" Rev. W. Temple." " C. F. Allison." 

The above letter was laid before the New Bruns- 
wick District Meeting, held in St. John in May, 1839 ; 
and Mr. Allison appeared personally before the Nova 
Scotia District and made the same proposition. Both 
districts thankfully accepted the gift. 

Several months passed before all the preliminaries 
were arranged, and the plan of the building deter- 
mined. But on the 17th, of January, 1840, all these 
matters were decided, and a plan of a neat building, 
one hundred and fifty feet in length, forty-five in 
breadth, and, including the basement story, four stories 
high, was laid before the building committee, and fully 
adopted. 

On the 9th day of June, 1840, a very large con- 
course of people assembled at Sackville to witness the 
ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the Wesleyan 
Academy. The religious service was commenced by 
the Rev. William Temple, Chairman of the District, 
by giving out the 526th hymn : " Except the Lord 
conduct the plan ; " after which prayer w^as offered by 
the Rev. Richard Knight. Mr. Temple then delivered 
the introductory address, when the congregation joined 
in singing the 737th hymn : " Thou, who hast in 
Zion laid." The stone was now placed in its proper 
position, when Charles F. AHison spoke as follows : — 

" The foundation-stone of this building I now proceed to lay 
in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
and may the education ever to be furnished by the institution 
be conducted on Wesleyan principles, to the glory of God, and 
the extension of his cause. Amen ! " 



364 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The excellent lady of Mr. Allison, then a bride, gave 
her approval of her husband's act, by giving the stone 
a final blow \yith the workman's hannner. Hymn 736 
was given out, and prayer offered by the Rev. W. Cros- 
combe ; after which, short addresses were given by 
Rev. Samson Busby, William Croscombe, George 
Miller, and William Wilson ; and this most deliirhtful 
service closed with the Doxology. 

On the 19th of January, 1843, Sackville Academy 
was first opened, and its career of usefulness com- 
menced. It was the day of small things. One of the 
class-rooms held the whole company. There were five 
ministers present, as follows : Richurd Williams, 
WilHam Wilson, Richard Shepherd, Samuel D. Rice, 
and Humphrey Pickard, also C. F. Allison and lady. 
These, with a very few other persons as visitors, con- 
stituted the entire assembly. An hour was spent in 
religious exercises, when special prayer was offered for 
the prosperity of the institution. After the close of 
these services, the names of the students were taken 
down, when only seveii persons recorded their names. 

With seveyi students did the Rev. Humphrey 
Pickard commence his academical toil as Principal of 
the Institution, which by his constant and indefatigable 
attention, and judicious management, for more than 
twenty-one years, has been raised to its present emi- 
nence. 

But the number of students rapidly increased, so 
that by the month of April thirty names were found 
upon the list of the institution. Another and a more 
formal opening of the academy was determined upon, 
which took place on the 29tli of June following. 
Upon this occasion, the com})any assembled in the 
spacious lecture-room, which was nearly filled. Besides 



EDUCATION. 865 

tlie noble founder, C. F. Allison, were also present, 
the Hon. Messrs. Botsford, Crane, and Chandler of 
New Brunswick, the Hon. Mr. Prescott, of Nova 
Scotia, with a large number of ladies and gentlemen, 
who now began to feel an interest in the prosperity of 
the institution. 

At ten o'clock, the Rev. Albert Desbrisay, the gov- 
ernor, and chaplain, and the Rev. H. Pickard, the 
principal, entered, followed by the English master, the 
French tutor, and the students. After singing, and 
prayer by Rev. R. Knight, the inaugural address was 
delivered by the principal, — an address characterized 
by the simplicity of its language, the elegance of its 
style and its Christian spirit, — and at once convinced 
the public that a master-mind was at the head of the 
Sackville Academy, and that, under the guidance of 
its principal, it must and it would prosper. 

Addresses were also delivered by Rev. C. Churchill, 
of Yarmouth, Rev. A. McNutt, of Sackville, Rev. W. 
Croscombe, of Halifax, Rev. R. Knight, chairman of 
the Nova Scotia District, Rev. S. Busby, of Point de 
Bute, and Rev. W. Wilson, of Wallace. The tide of 
prosperity for Sackville Academy began to flow at the 
close of its first term, in the year 1843, and it has had 
no ebb down to the present time, 1864, but has contin- 
ued each year to give full satisfaction to its patrons, 
and constantly to gain favor in the estimation of the 
intelligent of all the lower provinces. Its generous 
founder, C. F. Allison, besides his original gift, and his 
continued pecuniary aid, also assisted its board of 
trustees with his wise counsels, and employed a large 
portion of his time in promoting the objects of the 
institution, until the year 1859, when it pleased our 
heavenly Father to call him to his reward. He died 

31* 



886 'NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS IMISSIONARIES. 

in great peace, and the benefit he has conferred upon 
these provinces will never die, but his name will be 
cherished, and his generous, act will be kept in grateful 
remembrance by unborn generations. The wise man 
has said, " The memory of the just is blessed ; " and a 
" voice from heaven," has proclaimed, '' Blessed are the 
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea saith 
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and 
their works do follow them." 

It is due to the learned principal, to say, that from 
the very commencement of the institution, he has had 
the charge, and has toiled through all the years of its 
existence ; he has been constantly at his post ; has 
plodded on under many difficulties and discourage- 
ments ; he has justly merited for himself the honora- 
ble title of D. D. ; he has educated and trained the 
minds of hundreds of our youths many of whom are 
now filling highly important and respectable positions 
in society. Several are in the Christian ministry, and 
several have died happy, whose minds were first relig- 
iously impressed while under his care, and Dr. Pickard 
still lives and labors in the same position. May his 
life be long spared, and his efforts to diffiise sound 
education and correct moral principles be yet more 
abundantly owned of God. 

In literary matters Sackville has progressed to aston- 
ishment. After the male academy had been in suc- 
cessful operation for a few years, the friends contem- 
plated a like institution for the young ladies, toward 
which large subscriptions were raised and the desired 
object was soon attained. At this present time there 
is in the beautiful village of Sackville, beside the male 
academy, and nearly opposite to it, a female academy. 
The building is spacious, the rooms are high and well- 



EDUCATION. -367 

furnished, and where a huncbed young ladies can be 
comfortably accommodated with board and lodcrins;. 

1' JT o 

Near the female academ^y- is an elegant building, 
called Lingley Hall. Here is a rich and well-toned 
organ, on each side of which hangs a full-length por- 
trait, — one of Dr. Beecham, the first president of the 
Eastern British American Conference, the other of 
C. F. Allison, Esq., the founder of these institutions. 
In the rear of these buildings, stands Mount Allison 
College, a more recent erection, where its faculty have 
power to confer degrees, and the curriculum of which 
will in no way be inferior to that of any other colle- 
giate institution in the provinces. Beside this, there 
is a theological professor to train the minds of those 
young men who may hereafter be employed in the im- 
portant work of the Christian ministry. 

Thus has our youthful connection the apparatus and 
appliances for imparting a thorough education to our 
youth of both sexes, and of giving to our church in 
future years an enlightened as well as a converted 
ministry, certainly not inferior to that possessed by 
any affiliated conference within the whole range of 
Methodism. 

In the benefits of the Sackville institution, many of 
the Newfoundland youth have participated, as they 
received their education there. Now, however, they 
have academic institutions in their own country, so that 
their youth will not need so generally to leave their 
native land to acquire the elements of a sound and 
thorough education. Thus Newfoundland is rapidly 
rising in her literary reputation, and although there is 
still much of ignorance remaining, yet she has made a 
great step in the right direction. She now has her 
academies, and can train her own teachers ; she has 



NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

her clay schools estabUshed in very many places. She 
has her native legislators, her native lawyers, and is 
beginning to supply a native ministry ; and we hope 
the time is not far distant when every inhabited cove 
shall have its church and its school-house, and when 
every child shall be instructed and educated. 

In St. Johns there is a very excellent and prosper- 
ous Wesleyan Academy ; a public examination of which 
took place in the month of June last, — and with very 
great pleasure we transfer to our pages, from the " Pro- 
vincial Wesleyan," an account of that examination as 
given by a visitor who signs his name Veritas. 

" On Friday last, the 1 7th inst., we were favored with another 
opportunity of witnessing the advancement and prosperity of the 
Wesleyan Academy in this town, that day being set apart for the 
annual examination of the classes ; and, when it is taken into 
consideration that, although the academy has been in existence 
but four and a half years, one hundred and sixty-one pupils have 
been educated wholly or in part within it, — the attendance for 
the past year sixty-eight, — nearly one hundred of whom are 
scattered in different parts of the colony, some filling positions in 
mercantile establishments, others engaged in the onerous and 
equally important duty of teaching, surely it is a cause of great 
encouragement. With respect to the examinalion, I take the fol- 
lowing from our local papers : — 

" ' The annual examination of the pupils of the Wesleyan 
Academy was held yesterday, in presence of the Revs. P. Prest- 
wood and C. Ladner, the directors, and a number of the parents 
and relatives of the pupils, and other friends of education. About 
sLxty pupils were present, and their orderly and attentive de- 
meanor, and the intelligent interest they manifested in the pro- 
ceedings of the day, indicated the character of the institution as 
one in which the training is intellectual throughout, and not merely 
mechanical, as was the case in too many schools of a former gen- 
eration. Classes were examined in Arithmetic, Geography, Latin, 
French, and Spanish. 

" ' At the close of the examinations, both forenoon and after- 



EDUCATION. 369 

noon, several pieces, original and selected, were recited with good 
effect, in accordance with the subjoined programme : — 

" ' FORENOON, — ORIGINAL PIECP:S. 

" ' The Relation of Man to the External World.' By David H. 
Sclater. 

" ' The Character of the Ancient Romans.' By James C. Rog- 
erson. 

" 'A Dialogue.' (Selected.) By John II. LeMessurier, Richard 
AVhite, Edward G. Hunter, and Thomas N. Gaden. 

" ' The Present State of the World.' By Campbell McPherson. 

'"Examples of Illustrious Men.' By Stephen R. March. 

" ' A Dialogue. (Selected.) By John H. Birkett, Jonathan Shep- 
pard, Thomas P. Pine, and Edwin B. Woods. 

" ' Rich and Pooi\' By Miss Jessie S. Winter. 

" ' What are We ? ' By Miss Mary E. Woods. 

" ' AFTERNOON. — ORIGINAL PIECES. 

" ' Thoughts on Leaving School.' By Thomas C. Duder. 

" ' Decision of Character.' By Samuel W. Pelley, Pupil Teacher. 

"'A French Dialogue.' (Selected.) By Stephen R. March, 
Campbell McPherson, N. Munden Norman, David H. Sclater, 
John H. Stuart, and Hugh J. Ferneaux. 

" ' Perform well thy Mission.' By Miss Fanny M,' Smith. 

"' Nature the True Source of Poetic Inspiration.' By Miss 
Alice M. Reid. 

" ' Earth's Battlefields.' By Miss Maria S. Peach. 

" ' Moral Superior to Physical Triumphs, with Valedictory Ad- 
dresses.' By Miss Hannah L. Bemister. 

" ' We are glad to state that it is the intention of the directors 
of the academy to institute, with the commencement of the next 
academic term, an English or elementary department, to be con- 
ducted in the lower room of the building by a competent teacher, 
and to be under the control and supervision of the principal, Mr. 
Reid ; the fees, to be made much lower than those of the aca- 
demic branches, will place within the i-each of all classes of Wes- 
leyans the means of obtaining for their children a sound, thorough, 
English education at a cost that will be within the means of the 
poorest and humblest.' 

"Government votes annually the sum of £750 sterling, or 



370 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

about $3462, for training 'Pupil Teachers,' — each receiving 
£25 sterling, or about $115. Several have been trained in 
the VVesleyan Academy, and have gone forth to their respective 
spheres of labor. Five were present at the examination, one of 
■whom has since taken chaige of a school in the vicinity of Car- 
bonear. What influence these trained teachers will yet wield in 
the moral and intellectual training of our youth, time only can 
develop ! The annual government grant for the encouragement 
of education in this colony is about $62,885, — one seventh of 
the revenue in ordinary years, — and it may not be uninteresting 
to your readers to know that provision is made for the support of 
four academies in this place ; two grammar schools or academies in 
Harbor Grace and Carbonear; twenty-seven commercial schools 
in the principal outports, and two hundred and thirty board or 
elementary schools ; beside an annual appropriation of $3065 for 
schools under the control and direction of the Roman Catholic 
Bishops, $2808 to the Church School Society, and S1404 to the 
Wesleyan School Society, for their schools. In the town of Car- 
bonear, the Wesleyan portion of the population, not having confi- 
dence in the principal of the Government Grammar School, or 
satisfied with its working, have sustained, at their own expense, an 
academy, second to none out of St. Johns, under the careiul su- 
perintendence of a gentleman from your province. Our govern- 
ment officials, the speaker of the House of Assembly, and ablest 
men within it, our leading barristers (and we hope to say yet 
our judges and magistrates), are natives of this land. 

Veritas. 
"St. Johns, Newfoundland, June 22, 1864." ^ 

1 Provincial Wesleyan, July 10, 1864. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHURCHES — PREACHING — SINGING — SABBATH SCHOOLS — PRAYER- 
MEETINGS — RELIGIOUS STATE — STATIONS FOR 1836 — MALIGNANT 
QUINSY — REVIVAL IN BIRO ISLAND COVE — FAMINE. 

CHURCHES. 

OUR churches were plain wooden buildings, and 
as to size they were generally well proportioned 
to the wants of the place. In many of the out-har- 
bors the whole Protestant population called them- 
selves Wesleyans, when our congregations would be 
large ; and in those places where the Episcopalians had 
establishments, a goodly number always attended the 
Methodist church. I have mentioned the Episcopali- 
ans, because there were no other Protestant bodies but 
them and the Wesleyans in any out-harbor in the 
island. Several of our churches were without stoves, 
so that in very severe weather we would be obliged to 
have a very short service, or dispense with our service 
altogether. 

Preaching the gospel is the divinely instituted means 
for the illumination of the human mind, and for teach- 
ing universal man the way to happiness and heaven. 
Therefore, while the people come to the house of God 
to be instructed, and have a right to be disappointed if 
they are not there instructed, it is necessary, on the one 
hand, that the preacher should read much, pray much, 
study much, and always strive so to present the truths 
of the Bible to his hearers, that they may at the same 

(371) 



372 • NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

time rightly influence their judgment, duly affect their 
hearts, and lead them to Christ. On the other hand, 
those who hear should remember that it is the word 
of God ; and, while their ideas may be expanded 
by the erudition of the speaker, or they may be charmed 
by his eloquence, let them never forget that for their 
reception or rejection of the solemn verities of the gos- 
pel, they must give an account at that " day in which 
he will judge the world in righteousness." 

One of our more intelligent Newfoundland friends 
would often, when going to the house of God on the 
Sabbath day, quote with much accuracy and earnest- 
ness, the following very apposite lines from the poet 
Cowper : — 

*" The pulpit, therefore (and I name it filled 
With solemn awe, that bids me well beware 
With what intent I touch that holy thing), — 
The pulpit (when the satirist has at last, 
Strutting and vaporing in an empty school, 
Spent all his force, and made no proselyte), — 
I say the pulpit (in the sober use 
Of its legitimate, peculiar powers), 
Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand. 
The most important and effectual guard, 
Support, and ornament of virtue's cause. 
There stands the messenger of truth : there stands 
The legate of the skies ! — his theme divine, 
His office sacred, his credentials clear ; 
By him the violated law speaks out 
Its thunders ; and by him, in strains as sweet 
As angels use, the gospel whispers peace." 

The Newfoundlanders were generally a church-going 
people, so that in the different stations occupied by our 
missionaries you would rarely find a person absent 
from church on Sabbath, unless he were unwell. It 
used to be a matter of regret that some people outside 
the church would occasionally, on Sabbath morning, 



SINGING. 373 

discuss the affairs of the fishery ; but when they en- 
tered the churcli, they were always orderly and well- 
behaved. They loved their ministers and they received 
with gladness the word of life from their lips. They 
at all times heard with attention, and although, as a 
general thing, they had not learning so as to examine 
the Bible for themselves, yet they had good memories, 
and were not forgetful hearers, but carefully treasured 
up in their minds the truths they heard from the 
pulpit. 

SINGING 

Has formed an important part of divine worship from 
time immemorial, and, whenever practicable, that sing- 
ing has been accompanied with musical instruments. 
But in old time music was all melody, and it is said 
harmony has not yet been known in the world three 
hundred years. The writer has in his possession an 
English Bible in black letter, published in 1625, with 
which is connected the Book of Common Prayer, and a 
number of examples of church-music as used in those 
times. Among those examples is the song of '' The 
Three Children," "The Song of Zacharias," the 
Creed of Athanasius, the Lord's Prayer, and several 
other pieces set to music ; and the music also is arranged 
for several of the psalms. This music is all one part ; it 
is only melody. There is no mark for the time or the 
mood ; there are no bars, the C cleft only is used, and 
the notes are all square. 

A very excellent paper, entitled " Thoughts on Mu- 
sic," was published by Mr. Wesley in the " Arminian 
Magazine " for 1781, from which we beo; to note the 
following extracts : — 

" We are told the ancient Greek musicians in particular were 
able to excite whatever passions they pleased ; to inspire love or 
32 



874 ^NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

hate, joy or sorrow, hope or fear, courage, fury, or despair ; yea, to 
raise these one after another, and to vary the passion just according 
to the variation of the music. Nay, we read of an instance, even in 
modern history, of the power of music not inferior to this. A 
musician being brought to the king of Denmark, and asked wheth- 
er he could excite any passion, answered in the affirmative, and 
was commanded to make the trial on the king himself Presently 
the monarch was all in tears ; and, upon the musician's changing 
his mood, he was quickly roused into such fury, that, snatching a 
sword from one of his assistants' hands, he immediately killed him, 
and would have killed all in the room, had he not been forcibly 
withheld. But why is it that modern music in general has no 
such effect upon the hearers ? The grand reason seems to be no 
other than this : the whole nature and design of music is altered. 
The ancient composers studied melody alone, — the due arrange- 
ment of single notes, — and it was by melody alone that they 
wrought such wonderful effects. In this respect modern music 
has no connection with common sense, any more than with the 
passions. In another it is glaringly, undeniably contrary to com- 
mon sense ; namely, in allowing, yea, appointing different words 
to be sung by different persons at the same time ! AVhat can be 
more shocking to a man of understanding than this ? Pray 
which of those sentences am I to attend to ? I can attend to 
only one sentence at once ; and I hear three or four at one and 
the same instant ! And, to complete the matter, this astonishing 
jargon has found a place even in the worship of God ! It runs 
through (O pity! O shame !) the greatest part of our church 
music ! It is found even in the finest of our anthems, and in the 
most solemn parts of our public worship ! Let any impartial, any 
unprejudiced person say whether there can be a more direct mock- 
ery of God." 

John Wesley had a fine musical ear, as well as a 
truly devotional heart ; and he used his utmost 
efforts to make the church, over which in the order 
of Divine Providence he was called to preside, a mu- 
sical as well as a devotional people. As early as the 
year 1742, wliich was two years before the forming of 
the first conference, he issued a collection of tunes as 



SINGING. 375 

sung at the foundry. He enjoined his preachers to 
learn the science of music, and to preach frequently on 
singing ; not to suffer the people to sing too slow, and 
let the women sing their parts alone ; let no man sing 
with them, unless he understands the notes and sings 
the bass. Again he says, " Exhort every one to sing .; 
and in every large society let them learn to sing. Rec- 
ommend our tune-book everywhere." 

The Methodists soon became, as might be expected, 
a musical people ; and their hymns and music or sing- 
ing took a high stand, and was heard with emotion all 
over the united kino;dom. Handel found in the Meth- 
dist hymns a poetry worthy of his own grand genius, 
and he set to music those hymns beginning, '' Sinners, 
obey the gospel word ; " " O Love Divine, how sweet 
thou art ; " and " Rejoice ! the Lord is King." ^ 

The Wesleyan singing was a source of great power 
to our societies in those early times. Mr. Wesley, as 
he travelled in Ireland, heard his own hymns or tunes 
sung or whistled by Catholic children ; and hundreds 
of people, who cared nothing about preaching, were 
charmed to Methodist assemblies by the music. 
■ In the autobiocvraphv of Dnncan Wrioht a sergeant 
in the tenth regiment of foot, as published in the " Ar- 
minian Mao;azine " for 1785, we have an amusino; in- 
stance of the effect of old Methodist music upon the 
Irish mind. In the county of Wexford the society 
was much annoyed by popish mobs, and had to hold 
their meetings in a barn with closed doors. Tlie mob 
wished to know what was done at the private meetings 
of the Methodists. To accomplish this they put one 
of their party into a sack and laid him quietly behind 
the door, with instructions to come out of the sack at 

1 Stevens' History of Methodism, vol. ii. p. 503. 



376 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

the proper time, and open the door to his companions. 
The society came as usual, fastened the door, and took 
no notice of the sack. Tlie sinking commenced, and 
honest Pat was so charmed with tlie music that he 
tliouojht he would hear it out before he disturbed the 
meeting. The singing behig so good, he thought he 
would hear how they prayed. The mob outside began 
to sliout to their friend to open the door and let them 
in ; but poor Pat could not get out of the sack, and 
lay bawHng for some one to help him out. He roared 
lustily until the people thought Old Nick himself was in 
the sack. At length, one had courage to go and open 
the sack, when, lo ! a man was seen there who had 
come to annoy them, but now he was a weeping pen- 
itent. He confessed the whole matter, and began to 
cry to God for pardon. 

Duncan Wright, the narrator of this anecdote, after- 
ward became a travelling preacher, and was very 
useful both in Ireland and Scotland. 

The first missionaries to Newfoundland were all 
good singers, and they introduced the same tunes and 
the same style of singing those tunes as was practised 
by our venerable founder and the first Methodist preach- 
ers in England ; hence our people instinctively acquired 
a love for old Methodist music, and the missionaries, 
while they spread the sublime poetry with which the 
Wesleyan body is so amply supplied, broadcast over 
the land, also taught the people everywhere to 
sing those hymns in the soul-stirring strains of Handel, 
Haydn, Leach, Arnold, Rippon, Walker, and other 
musical composers of the same class ; and so thor- 
oughly was this done that our people could sing all 
our hymns ; and when the hymn was announced, no 
matter what was the metre, without any unnatural 



SINGING. 377 

gesture on the part of the precentor, calhng up people 
from different parts of the church, or even sounding 
the key-note, a tune was at once struck in every wa}"- 
suitable both in style and accent. 

In some places, as St. Johns, Carbonear, and Brigus, 
the singing was most superior and highly scientific ; 
which for correctness of time, propriety of accent, and 
melHfluence of sound, could not be exceeded. Beside 
the singing was everywhere congregational, every one 
thought it his duty and privilege to join publicly in 
singing the praises of God. With all this, there were 
none of those nocturnal meetings called " singing 
schools ; " nor was any one employed in the capacity 
of a " singing-master," — many of whom care very 
httle about what kind of sinoincr there is in the 
church, and who never use our music-books, or habit- 
uate our youth to the use of the Methodist Hymn 
Book. There were generally a few persons in each 
place who knew the notes, and these taught the rest, 
who learned to sing by ear. Our own hymns were 
always used at practice meetings, so that in learning a 
tune, they also learned a hymn ; hence, when the hymn 
was named from the pulpit, at the class-meeting or 
prayer-meeting, a tune was ready, in which all could 
and generally did unite. At those times we had no 
organ in any church on the island ; and the melodeon, 
tliat fine imit,ator of the organ, had not been invented. 
Our church instruments were the violin and a bass- 
viol. In some places we had two .violins and a bass- 
viol, and occasionally a flute would accompany these 
instruments. 

It is to be regretted that in these lower provinces, 
w^here sino:ino;-masters abound, and every village has 
its singing-school, our ministers can seldom give out 
32 * 



378 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

any hymn except long, common, short metre, or six 
lines eights, witliOut being told, " Sir, we cannot sing 
that hymn : we have no tune for it ; " and an organist 
wdll sometimes send a message to the pulpit, requesting 
the preacher to give out some other hymn than the 
one lie had selected in his study, it might have been on 
his knees, " because we have got no tune for it." 
Thus many, very many of our best hymns are never 
sung by us ; and our people lose the benefit which our 
forefathers enjoyed as they mentally luxuriated in their 
heavenly strains, which they sang to those Christ- 
honoring and soul-comforting verses. It is a disgrace 
to us that we as Wesleyans cannot sing every hymn 
in the Wesleyan hymn-book. 

SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

The minutes of the Newfoundland Sabbath schools 
for 1825, reported 1200 children, and a number of 
adults, w'ho were receiving instruction in these institu- 
tions. In these schools, many children obtained all 
the learning they ever had, and had there learned 
to read and to a considerable extent understand the 
Scriptures of truth. In Bonavista, five boys and three 
girls learned, and repeated before the congregation with 
great accuracy, the whole of our Lord's sermon on the 
Mount ; and fifteen of the children had become the 
subjects of converting grace, and regularly met in class. 
Our Sabbath schools in Newfoundland, as well as in 
most of our country circuits in these provinces, were 
discontinued during the wanter season, because of the 
severity of the weather ; but, during the summer sea- 
son, they were well attended, and orderly. 

In the year 1824, Newfoundland received its first 
importation of Conference Catechisms. The whole 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 379 

series of these invaluable compilations of Scripture 
truth were from the pen of the noble and learned 
Richard Watson, who, at the time of writing them, 
was one of our missionary secretaries. 

Some time in the year 1822, Mr. Watson, under the 
direction of conference, compiled two Catechisms on 
Scripture doctrine and history ; the first for very 
young children, the second for children who were 
able to read the Bible.^ In these, considerable use is 
made of the Catechism of the Church of Eng- 
land, — that of the assembly of Westminister divines, 
— and also of Mr. Wesley's instructions for children. 
In the spring of 1823, Mr. Watson published a third 
Catechism, which completed the series. This letter 
was entitled, " A Catechism of the Evidences of Chris- 
tianity, and the Truth of the Holy Scriptures." This 
is entirely an original work ; it states with great clear- 
ness and force the evidences of revealed religion, and 
meets in a masterly manner the arguments which infi- 
dels of all 2;rades have brought against the Bible. The 
series was submitted to the careful examination of a 
committee of the conference, approved and sanctioned 
by that body, and hence designated the Wesleyan 
Catechisms. These Catechisms have been sent forth 
by tens of thousands, — have been translated in whole, 
or in part, into the language of every people where 
Wesleyan missionaries labor, and are found in every 
part of the earth where the English language is spoken. 
By these Catechisms the labor of our Sabbath-school 
teachers has been considerably lightened ; nmltitudes 
of children have thereby acquired the first principles 
of evangelical truth ; have been trained up in the 
faith of the Bible, and in the knowledge of its truths ; 
and thus have been saved from the withering blasts of 



380^ NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

heterodoxy, or the soul-deceiving fallacies of covert 
or open infidelity. 

The children in our Sabbath schools in Newfound- 
land have these Catechisms ; large portions of which 
have been committed to memory, and the children 
there are not behind the children in our Sabbath 
schools elsevvhere in their knowledo;e of the Bible his- 
tory, of evangelical doctrine, and the arguments for 
the truth of revealed relio'ion. 

Prayer-meetings were well attended, and were often 
very lively. In 1823, in Grand Bank we had several 
interesting young men, who, when they had to cruise 
for fish, as they sometimes did to the distance of sixty 
or seventy leagues, were accustomed so to arrange their 
matters as to meet together on Sabbath days in harbors, 
where there were no places of worship, and hold prayer- 
meetings ashore, read the' Scriptures, tmd distribute 
tracts, to the great delight of the people of those destitute 
places. Thus our fishermen themselves became mis- 
sionaries, and were instrumental of doing much good. 

The religious state of our societies was satisfactory 
and encouraging. Revivals had taken place in several 
circuits ; our prayer-meetings, class-meetings, love- 
feasts, and sacraments were times of '' refreshing from 
the presence of the Lord." The brethren often had 
wearisome journeys by land, and dangerous voyages by 
sea ; but they found comfort and pleasure in their work, 
in that they saw and felt that the soil they were endeav- 
oring to cultivate would in time yield abundant fruit, 
and that their labor was not in vain in the Lord. 

Newfoundland, while it had its toils, and its disadvan- 
tages, also had its advantages and its pleasures. Many 
of our wealthy planters, and a good sprinkling of our 
princely merchants, had become favorable to Method- 



REVIVALS. 381 

ism, and some of tliem had become members of the 
Wesleyan church ; the connection had gained a large 
influence in the community, and was the most numer- 
ous Protestant body in the island. Methodist preachers 
were everywhere received with kindness, treated with 
great respect ; they had a home in every house, a seat 
at every table, and a place in the affections of every 
heart. 

In several of our circuits there had been revivals of 
religion particularly at St. Johns, Harbor Grace, 
Island Cove, and Bonavista. The English " Wesleyan 
Magazine " for 1827, in its obituary department, records 
the death of three persons in one place, who went 
triumphantly " home to God," within a few weeks of 
each other. In English Harbor, in the Trinity Cir- 
cuit, was a family of the name of Ivamy, nearly all 
the adult members of which, were the subjects of con- 
. /erting grace. In the year 1826, three members of 
this interesting family were called away by death. 
They were all young persons. Ann Burns, wdiose 
maiden name was Ivamy, was brought to God under 
the ministry of Mr. Ellis, in 1817, and for ten years 
lived in the enjoyment of the favor of God, and when 
dying said to her weeping friends, " I feel a solid 
peace ; " "I feel peace with God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." She died Feb. 23, 1826, aged 27 
years. 

Martin Ivamy, aged 21 years. He was brought to 
God also under the preaching of Mr. Ellis. When on 
his death-bed, he said to his mother, '' My pain is 
severe, but I shall soon be where there is no more sick- 
ness or pain ; where tears are wiped from all /aces." 
To his class-leader he said, " In my fishing-boat I 
have many times sung those words : — 



382 'NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

" ' They sin2: tlie Lamb in hymns above, 
And we in hymns below.' 

" Now I am going to join tlie heavenly choir, to sing 
the sono; of Moses and the lamb forever. Oh, the ciood- 
ness of God ! His works praise him, and his saints 
bless him." Thus he continued until his happy spirit 
took its flight to the land of rest. 

George Ivamy, aged 22 years. He also was brought 
to God under the ministry of Mr. Ellis. He was an 
exemplary young man through his whole Christian 
course, and his last affliction, which was consumption, 
and very protracted, he bore with true Christian forti- 
tude. He had a good voice, which he employed in 
singing the praises of God. Once, after a severe 
paroxysm of suffering, and feeling a little recovered, he 
broke forth sino-ins: : — 

** Be it weariness and pain 

To slothful flesh and blood ; 
Yet we will the cross sustain 
And bless the welcome load." 

To his mother he said, " Oh, my dear mother, rejoice 
on my account. Death is gain to me. I am going 
to Jesus, and you will soon follow." He died in per- 
fect peace. 

In 1830 our membership in Newfoundland was 
1,287 ; the missionary membership through the world 
was 41,186 ; the number of our missionaries, 189, and 
our missionary income, .£51,299 18s. 3c?. 

Our stations were as follows : — ^ 

St. Jonx — John Haigh. 
Harbor Grace — John Pickavant. 
(Jarbonear — Richai'd Knight. 
Blackhead — John Boyd. 
Western Bay — Adam Nightingale. 



STATIONS. 383 

Island Cove and Perlican — John Smithies. 

Port de Grave — William Ellis. 

Brig us — George Ellidge. 

Trinity Bay — John Tomkins. 

Bona VISTA and Catalina — William Wilson. 

Grand Bank and Fortune Bay — Richard Shepherd. 

Hants' Harbor — William Faulkner. 

William Faulkner was admitted on trial in 1829, 
and came to St. Johns. He labored with acceptance 
in different circuits for twenty years, when he left the 
island, and returned to his native land. In the 
minutes of 1863, his name stands for " Ashton-under- 
Lyne" Circuit, in the Manchester and Bolton District. 

At this time several parts of Newfoundland suffered 
severely from the failure of the fisherv. Island Cove, 
Old Perlican, and Bonavista all suffered from this 
cause. In the last-named place the catch of fish 
during the summer was estimated at not more than 
half sufficient to pay the expense of the voyage ; 
therefore, as the fall came on, poverty was felt in almost 
every family, and a deep gloom sat upon every counte- , 
nance. In a population of two thousand, it was ascer- 
tained that there were eight hundred and eighty-seven 
individuals, who had no means of subsistence whatever, 
except the potatoes produced in their own gardens, and 
these it was evident would fail before the next spring. 
Application was therefore made to his excellency Sir 
Thomas Cochran, the governor, who promptly sent^ 
seven hundred and fifty barrels of potatoes for the 
relief of the suffering poor. These potatoes, w^ith a 
number of seals that were taken durino; the winter and 
spring, saved many from starvation. 

In the midst of this poverty, a fearful epidemic 
broke out in Bonavista and Bird Island Cove. It was 
the ulcerated sore throat, Cynanche maligna^ which 



884 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

seems to have been identical with what is now known 
as Diphtheria. Many fell victims to this dire disease. 
The journal of the writer supplies the following 
particulars in reference to the family of Mr. George 
Crew, one of our leaders in Bird Island Cove, who 
lost three members of his family by this disease in 
twenty-one days : — 

"July 8, 1830. This afternoon I interred two children; both 
died on the same day of the prevailing epidemic, one httle boy, 
four years of age, was the son of Mr. George Crew, one of our 
leaders. 

" July 1 7. Saturday, Mary Minty, a married daughter of 
brother Crew, was taken alarmingly ill with sore throat. 

"July 19. Susannah, a girl of twelve years of age, second 
daughter of brother Crew, was taken with the same complaint. 

" July 24. Saturday, Joseph, a son of the same person ; a young 
man, 18 years of age, was seized with the sore throat. 

"July 27. The girl Susannah died on Sabbath morning, and 
was interred to-day. On entering the room^ what a sight ! The 
coffin containing the corpse of Susannah lay on the table, near 
which was her sister Mary Minty, struggling in the agonies of 
death, and in the interim of her pain, shouting ' Glory to God.' In 
another part of the room, sat Joseph, sutfering severely, and 
apprehending the fatal result of his disease ; in an adjoining 
apartment, was the poor mother, — whose feelings can much better 
be conceived than described, — bewailing the loss of two of her 
children, and expecting every moment to see a third expire, while 
a fourth was in a very dangerous and critical state. But in the 
midst of this scene of suffering, stood the father, who seems to have 
been endowed with a more than ordinary supply of grace, — giving 
up one child after another with a father's feeling, but with a 
Christian's fortitude. Now turning to his dying daughter, he would 
exhort her to exercise strong faith in the Redeemer's blood, and 
take courage, inasmuch as a few more groans, a few more strug- 
gles, would terminate all her surtierings, when her happy spirit 
would wing its way to worlds on high, where suffering is never 
known. Then he would speak to his son, and exhort and entreat 
him to seek for a clear sense of pardoning mercy,, that he also 
might be prepared for the awful change. After the funeral, 



MALIGNANT QUINSY. 385 

when returning home: 'What a house have I to go to! — two 
children in the grave in so short a space of time, and perhaps 
another dead before I reach home ; — how can I endure it ? ' 
exclaimed the disconsolate mother. ' Wife,' replied the pious 
father ; ' cannot you give up your children when the Lord calls 
for them ? I can. The Lord knows best what he is about to do 
with us, and, severe as is our affliction, it becomes us not to 
murmur.' " 

To the writer, our friend George Crew said : — 

" The Lord gave me my children, and I can freely give them 
up at his command ; and I do this, because I believe they have 
gone to heaven. Of Thomas (the httle boy), I can have no 
doubt, as he died so young. Of Susannah I was anxious to get 
something satisfactory, as she was old enough to understand and 
enjoy religion. ' She told me,' said this pious man, ' she was not 
afraid to die.' ' I feel,' said she, ' that Jesus has loved me, and I 
shall soon be with him in heaven.' ' Mary,' continued he, ' has 
long been a professor of religion, and she now testifies to all 
around her that she is personally interested in the blood of Christ ; 
that she has no doubt of her acceptance with God, and she will 
soon join the blood-washed throng in the realms of light and 
rest.' " 

When we reached the house, we found Mary still 
alive, but in fearful agony ; the sloughs in her throat 
were causing strangulation. One present said to her, 
" Mary, you suffer much in body, but how is the state 
of your mind?" She replied, "I do suffer much; 
but bless God I am happy ; death is disarmed of its 
sting ; I feel I am pardoned ; I feel — I feel " — Here 
a fit of coughing came on with such violence, that all 
present thought suffocation would be the immediate re- 
sult. On recovering a little, she said, " I feel Christ is 
precious, but I cannot converse ; good-by, I shall 
soon be in heaven." Very shortly after this conversa- 
tion, she expired in the full triumph of faith. 

33 



386 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

For more than a year, did this fearful plague, 
" Malignant Quinsy," rage in Bonavista and Bird 
Island Cove. It seemed for a time as tliouo;li it would 
depopulate the place ; its victims were numerous ; it 
seized persons of all ages, and no constitution was proof 
against its attacks. At length it pleased our heavenly 
Father to stay his chastening hand, when the com- 
plaint entirely disappeared from the people. 

Bonavista first appeared on our minutes in 1815, 
and that excellent man, James Hickson, was the 
preacher. The only religious service the people then 
had, was reading the church prayers on Sabbath after- 
noon, by a man who filled the office of store-keeper to 
a large mercantile firm ; and who usually opened his 
store on the morning of the sacred Sabbath. But the 
labors of Mr. Hickson and his successors were greatly 
owned of God in the conversion of souls. 

In Bird Island Cove, at that time, there was no kind 
of religious service whatever, and when it was visited 
by Methodist preachers, which was the case soon after 
Bonavista appeared on our station-sheet, the people 
treated the preachers with every kind of contempt and 
insult. The moral character of the people was awful. 
They were accustomed to boast that they belonged to 
the *' established Church of England," and would, in- 
deed, sometimes walk over to Bonavista, to hear the 
prayers read on Sabbath afternoon, and return home 
drunk. In Bonavista, Methodism had more opposition, 
and this opposition offered for a greater length of time, 
than in any other part of Newfoundland. The Bird 
Island Cove people therefore, by mixing with their 
friends in Bonavista, would generally get something 
new to increase their ire against these new preachers. 
One man, after his conversion to God, declared to the 



BIRD ISLAND COVE. 387 

writer, that he had many times reflected upon the gov- 
ernment of England for toh^rating such men as Meth- 
odist preachers, and for not allowing any one who chose 
to shoot them ; and, he added, " I would have shot them 
if I had dared, and have thought in so doing I should 
have rendered service to the church and to the state." 

Bird Island Cove was for a long time a barren soil ; 
so that in eight years we had only five members in so- 
ciety. But in the year 1824, God poured out his Spirit 
upon the people, and our society was increased to fifty- 
four. Now a considerable alarm was excited at the 
spread of Methodism, and something must be done, or 
all the wicked people would be converted to God, for- 
sake the " relio-ion of their fathers," and become Meth- 
odists. The store-keeper parson of Bonavista was now 
dead, and he was succeeded by a man who had been a sea- 
captain, who was zealously opposed to Methodist preach- 
ers. By his influence a person, who could read only 
with difficulty, got an appointment to read prayers in 
Bird Island Cove, so as to prevent the further spread 
of Methodism in that place. The Bird Island Cove 
parson was familiarly known as " Skipper Joe." But 
this effort to stop the revival was a failure. There 
was then a good choir of singers, who, with Skipper 
Joe, were for a time very zealous for the church. 
Now that the place had a little church of its own, 
a parson and choir, surely there was no motive for 
the people to go to Methodist meeting. But still they 
went there ; and some of the singers went to make 
sport at the bad singing in the Methodist prayer-meet- 
ings. But soon one of these singers became awakened, 
and cried out for mercy ; another and another became 
similarly affected, until the whole choir was powerfully 
wrought upon ; several found peace with God, and 



888 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

all joined the Methodist Church. Skipper Joe, the 
parson, also, the church clerk, and several of the in- 
habitants, were all thought to be quite proof against 
the influence of Methodism. But not so^; for soon the 
clerk went to the Methodist prayer-meetings, was 
awakened there, and joined the Methodist Church : 
and further. Skipper Joe could not keep away from 
these meetings, and his mind, after a while, became 
seriously impressed with the necessity of experiencing 
the converting grace of God. Our nautical friend of 
Bonavista, who acted in this locality as a sort of rural 
dean, now got alarmed ; he went over to Bird Island 
Gove, and made some strono; remarks about the enthu- 
siasm of the Methodists, and the people going mad. To 
which. Skipper Joe replied: "Mr. G., I think your 
remarks are very unkind, and quite uncalled for ; I 
have been to their meetings, and have seen nothing im- 
proper there. It is a solemn thing to die, and to die 
unpardoned, and in one's sins ; as I feel is the case 
with me." '' What do you mean ?" was the indignant 
remark of our Bonavista parson ; " you have a salary 
from the society,^ and if you go among these Metliod- 
ists you will certainly lose it." " I cannot help that," 
he repHed, " but I must seek the salvation of my soul." 
" Oh, " said Mr. G., " if you leave us, the church will 
go down here. I say, do you be firm. Skipper Joe." 
" I will if I can!'' said Skipper Joe. " Throw the 
can away, and be firm to the religion of your fathers," 
was the remark of our Bonavista friend. Before the 
close of the next week this man became a subject of 
the grace of God, and cast his lot among the despised 
Methodists of the place. 

1 He received ten pounds per annum from the *' Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." 



BIRD ISLAND COVE. . 889 

If service was to be held in Bird Island Cove chnrcli 
at all now, nothing remained but for our nautical cap- 
tain to go there in person and read prayers. This he 
did faithfully as long as he could. There was at that 
time a serious woman, who was still faithful to the 
church, and who became deeply Impressed with the ne- 
cesity of experiencing the converting grace of God. 
" I believe," said she, " what the Methodists say about 
a change of heart is true ; but I do not think it is neces- 
sary to leave the church In order to get that blessing. 
I am determined to seek it in earnest; but I will be a 
church woman still." She became in earnest, for sev- 
eral days was a deep penitent, and ceased not night and 
day to cry to God for mercy. At length, one Sabbath 
morning, as the captain was reading prayers, light broke 
upon her mind, and the Spirit of God was given to her ; 
and she was enabled to cry, "Abba, Father." She arose 
to tell the congregation what God had done for her ; 
but it was an Indecorum there. " Woman," called the 
captain, '' sit down." At first she did not observe the 
remark ; and it was the least of her thoughts to disturb 
the congregation ; but the mandate was repeated, and 
w^as promptly observed by her, for she sat down with- 
out a word. But, strange, our captain-parson thought 
his reproof was not yet sufficient ; he therefore, the 
next day, sent a note to this good woman, in which he 
threatened to " bind her over to keep the king's peace, 
if she ever again so disturbed him while he was per- 
forming divine worship." In relating this matter to 
the writer, she said, " Thus was I driven from the 
church, and compelled to be a Methodist ; and, oh if I 
can keep the peace I have, I shall be happy." 

We will mention one more incident connected with 
the revival in Bird Island Cove. As our friend the 
33* 



890 -NEWFOUNDLAND AND TT8 MISSIONARIES. 

captain could not sing, and all the choir had joined the 
Weslejan Church, he deemed it necessary to take some 
one with him from Bonavista wW could repeat the 
responses and sing a psalm. He found such a person, 
■Nvho repeatedly accompanied him on his mission to re- 
claim the Methodists from the error of their ways. But 
one dark night this new clerk stepped between two 
stones, on his way home, and very seriously sprained 
his ankle ; his companion could render him but little 
help, and while help was coming to him, he lay on the 
ground in agonies ; and when at length assistance came 
to him, and a little rum was given to him, — which was 
at that time the universal panacea, — he began to curse 
the Methodists, and amongst other strange things, 
Frank exclaimed, " If these Methodists will perish 
they must, for I will not go any more to save them." 

After this, Methodism met with but little opposition in 
Bird Island Cove. Many have been brought to God in 
that place, and our cause there still continues to prosper. 

THE FAMINE. 

We must again return to the temporal circumstances 
of the people in Bonavista and Bird Island Cove- at 
this very trying time. No sooner did that terrible epi- 
demic subside, which had raged for so many months, 
and had made such gaps in family circles, than great 
want and pinching poverty began to stare the people 
in the face, which continued with increasing severity 
until absolute famine was the result. 

At that time the seal-fishery was only very partially 
prosecuted in Bonavista, as three schooners, employing 
about seventy men, constituted their entire spring fleet. 
There were then no farms, no manufiictories, no public 
works of any kind ; the people had to depend upon 



THE FAMINE. 391 

the cod-fishery as the only means of obtaining a sub- 
sistence. In that northern and exposed station the cod- 
fishery does not commence until May, and closes early 
in October, so that five months was all the time the 
men could be employed in earning a livelihood for 
themselves and families for the wliule year. If, how- 
ever, the fishery were good, and the price of the fish 
at a medium rate, these five months' labor would supply 
ample means for this purpose. But the summers of 
1830 and 1831 had been remarkable for the failure of 
the cod-fishery in these parts, and particularly was this 
the case in the latter year, as, at the close of the season, 
the catch of fish was only one half the average, and 
the price had fallen, at rates ranging from twenty to 
forty shillings per quintal, to twelve. The winter set 
in with unusual severity early in November, and for 
weeks too^ether the thermometer rano-ed from 15° to 
18° below zero. Moreover, the great northern jam 
of ice did not leave the coast until the nineteenth day 
of June ; so that the spring supplies, which are usually 
received in April, did not arrive till near the last of 
June. One of the severest snow-storms during the 
season was on the fifth of May ; and the ground con- 
tinued frozen until near the month of June. A number 
of cattle died for want of food, and, during: the nio;ht of 
the third of June, nine horses died from the same cause. 
After the usual time for obtaining supplies had 
passed, the most appalling distress began to be felt 
among the inhabitants, and particularly was this the 
case during the latter part of the month of May and 
June. There were no provisions in the merchants* 
stores, and no amount of money could purchase a bar- 
rel of flour or a bas: of bread. Men of wealth had to 
dole out food to their families with most parsimonious 



392 NEWFOUJsDLAND AND ITS MISSIONAE.IES. 

care, and the writer with his family w^as restricted to 
two meals a day for three weeks. The ice on the coast 
prevented the arrival of vessels ; the seals had gone ; and 
the heavy ice, large masses of which grounded in deep 
water, kept the cod-fish from coming near the shore. 
A severe famine was felt amono; the inhabitants ; sev- 
eral families subsisted on nothing but potatoes and salt. 
Early in June nearly all the flour and bread (sea bis- 
cuit) was exhausted, and the cry for bread ceased be- 
cause it was not to be had ; but the mournful cry, " For 
God's sake give me a few potatoes to save my children 
from starvation," continued to be uttered with the 
most heart-rending vehemence. Individuals have passed 
the whole day without tasting food, and strong men 
were seen staggering through the streets, as if inebri- 
ated, as the effect of starvation. 

On the 4th of June, some of the crew of a schooner 
which had been jammed in the ice for a long time, in 
sight of the harbor, came on shore, and reported that 
their companions on board were almost perishing from 
cold and hunger. On the 11th of June a party of men 
came over the ice from Keels, a place about fifteen 
miles' distant, and reported that one woman and three 
children had died through hunger. The following is 
an extract from the journal of the writer ; — 

"June 11, 1832. — I this morning called upon a poor widow 
with six children, who were known to be in a state bordering upon 
starvation ; wlien, after communicating to her the painful informa- 
tion, that no further help could be rendered to her, whatever 
might be the result, I desired her to tell me plainly what food she 
had, and what were her prospects of living through the femine. 
' I will do so,' she replied. She then uncovered a barrel contain- 
ing two or three buckets of potatoes. ' This is all the food I have, 
and all I ever expect to have, unless the Lord in mercy should see 
fit to give us a change of wind, so as to take the ice from our 



THE FAMINE. 393 

shores.' She had been a stout, healthy woman, but is reduced 
almost to a skeleton for want of food ; but now with tremulous 
hand, with tottering hmb, and sunken eye she stood before me, 
and said, 'When my children get up in the morning, I send 
them round to beg a potato from the neighbors ; if they succeed 
I am thankful, and it saves my own stock ; if they do not succeed, 
I roast two or three potatoes for each of my childr-en, both morn- 
ing and evening. I fear to boil them, because of waste ; and I 
find by this means the lives of my children can be saved until 
my potatoes are all exhausted ; when my heavenly Father may 
yet smile upon us and send us deliverance. But I am resigned to 
his blessed will. He knows what is best for me. I am happy in his 
love ; and if he is about to take me away by famine, I know he 
will take me to heaven. I will praise him for all his mercies.' " 

Two days after tlie above was written, when a deep 
gloom sat upon every countenance, and nothing but 
starvation seemed to be the fate of the people, sud- 
denly a messenger arrived bringing the joyful news 
that forty bags of bread, twenty quintals of dry fish, 
and fifty gallons of molasses, were already in Catalina, 
ten miles off, for the relief of the poor. Had it rained 
bread from heaven, it could not have come more unex- 
pectedly. Food in Catalina ! how did it come there ? 
The mystery was soon explained. The news of dis- 
tress had reached St. Johns, — when the government 
promptly sent an officer round the head of both Con- 
ception and Trinity Bay, to Trinity Harbor, to the 
magistrates there, with orders to send supplies to Bona- 
vista. Just then a light north-west wind slacked the 
ice from the north shore of Trinity Bay, by which a 
boat got from Trinity to Catalina, with the above sup- 
plies, and in less than half an hour after the arrival 
of the boat, the ice again came in and stopped all navi- 
gation for ten days more. The next morning, more 
than one hundred men walked over to Catalina to re- 



894 newfoundla:nd and its missionaries. 

celve rations, — when the above articles of provisions 
were divided according to their respective famihes. 
One hundred and seventy-six families, comprising nine 
hundred and fourteen individuals, were thus relieved. 
At length a south-west wind spning up, which in- 
creased to a gale, by which the coast was cleared of 
ice, and supplies were brought for the relief of the 
inhabitants. 

REVIVALS. 

About this time several of the circuits were visited 
with gracious revivals of religion. In Carbon ear the 
Lord poured out his Spirit upon the people, and in the 
year 1829, our church received an increase of one 
hundred and eighty-five members. In the month ot 
October, 1839, Mr. Smithies wrote the committee from 
Harbor Grace, in which letter he says : " The good 
work of God is prospering in an astonishing manner in 
this bay. The fire of heavenly love is burning rapidly 
and brightly throughout the whole of our stations. 
More than five hundred souls have been brought out 
of the world into the church since the district meeting, 
most of whom are savingly converted to God." In 
the month of April, 1831, Mr. Nightingale from 
Western Bay wrote : " Since last July, one hundred 
and sixty-four persons have been added to our society, 
one hundred of whom have found ' redemption in the 
blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins.' The greater 
part of these are young persons, some of whom are 
considerably gifted, and manifest a deep interest in 
the welfare of their fellow-creatures. In our prayer- 
meetings during the last winter they have rendered us 
considerable service." The following letter from the 
pen of Dr. Knight, will be read with deep interest : — 



REVIVALS. 395 

"Blackhead, June 25, 1830. 
" The Blackhead station is In many respects an important 
one. Its population, for a thinly inhabited and insulated country, 
as Newfoundland is well known in general to be, is considerable. 
It contains not less than 2000 souls, three fourths of whom are 
Protestants, who have received their religious instruction entirely 
from our missionaries. They are almost without exception 
ardently attached to Methodism, and manifest a readiness to sup- 
port the gospel as far as their poverty will allow. It forms a most 
delightful field for missionary exertion, — extending over a line of 
twelve miles of the sea-coast of Conception Bay. It has two good 
places of worship, and is dissected into seven harbors or coves, 
in which the services of the sanctuary are regularly performed. 
The geographical extent of this station may appear very limited, 
and consequently the performance of its required duties may 
appear to be easy. The reverse of this, however, is the case. 
The extreme difficulty of walking, the necessity of travelling it so 
frequently, the absence of assistance from any local preacher, 
and almost the whole of official exertion devolving upon the mis- 
sionary, render it in truth a most laborious circuit. Often have 
I gone as far as strength and time would admit, and have yet 
fallen short in the accomplishment of what has been further 
necessary. These toils have, however, been relieved and rendered 
sweet, from the spiritual advantages which have resulted to the 
people of our charge. Hundreds, having found redemption in 
the blood of Jesus, have sped their flight to the mansions of God 
from this circuit. They now walk in high salvation in the climes 
of bliss, and hundreds more are journeying thither. This station 
received no small share of the labors of those zealous missionaries, 
Messrs. Coughlan, Black, Thoresby, and Smith, and was in no 
small degree benefited by their ministry ; as also by that of those 
who have from time to time succeeded them, and are now labor- 
ing in the parent country, and in other parts of the mission-field. 
But during the past year it has pleased the Great Head of the 
church to pour down upon us the plenitude of his grace, in a 
more remarkable manner than ever was previously witnessed."^ 

In this revival, which was very extensive, several 
old members were quickened, many backsliders were 

1 " Methodist Magazine," 1634, p. 61. 



396 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

restored ; and one hundred and thirty persons were 
added to the society. The centre of the revival wsls 
the north shore of Conception Bay, yet every circuit 
in the district, from Bonavista to Grand Bank, felt its 
influence. 

In the minutes of Conference for 1829, our returns 
show an increase of 99 members ; in 1830, an increase 
of 128 ; and in 1831, our increase was 561. In 1829, 
our number was 1133, and in 1831, we returned 1848 
members; showing an increase in our membership in 
three years, of 715 persons. The history of Metho- 
dism in previous times can supply no such returns for 
the Newfoundland District. The blessed effects of 
this revival were felt for many years, and some arc still 
living who were brought to God at the time of which 
we are now writing. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



REMOVAL OF THE WRITER — STATIONS, 1835 — WILLIAM MURRAY — DR. 
WARREN — EXTENSION OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND MISSION — VISITING 
MISSIONARIES — WESTERN SHORE — GREEN BAY — STATIONS FOR 1845 

— JABEZ INGHAM — JAMES NORRIS — JOHN SNOWBALL — WILLIAM 
MARSHALL — RICHARD WILLIAMS — LABRADOR — CANADA CONFER- 
ENCE — NEWFOUNDLAND BIBLE SOCIETY — FLY-SHEET AGITATION 

— MISSIONARY INCOME FOR 1852 — FRENCH CONFERENCE — AUSTRA- 
LASIAN CONFERENCE — CONFERENCE OF EASTERN BRITISH AMERICA 

— JOHN BEECHAM, D. D. — STATIONS OF NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT* 

IN the year 1834, the writer removed to Prince 
Edward Island ; and on the 28th of June, the 
followino; entrv was made in his journal : — 

" I have this day left Newfoundland for another sphere of labor. 
On that island I spent fourteen years, one month, and seven days. 
I have walked many hundreds of miles on its rough shores, sailed 
along its rock-bound coasts at almost all seasons of the year ; have 
been extensively acquainted with its inhabitants ; hare seen many 
souls converted to God, and witnessed the piety of hundreds ; 
have experienced the kindness and partaken of the hospitality 
for which the Newfoundlanders are so characteristic, from For- 
tune Bay to Bonavista ; have labored in eight of its circuits. I 
leave hundreds of affectionate friends and fellow-travellers to Zion, 
with whom my soul is united, and with whom I could live and die. 
Farewell, Newfoundland, farewell, dear friends, — we shall not 
again meet on earth, but let us resolve to meet in heaven. 

" There all the ship's company meet, 

Who sailed with the Saviour beneath ; 
With shouting each other they greet, 
And triumph o'er trouble and death. 

" The voyage of life 's at an end, 
The mortal affliction is past ; 

34 (397) 



398 NEWFOUNI>LAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The age that in heaven they spend, 
Forever and ever shall last." 

For the 3'ear 1835, tlie following were the stations 
for the Newfoundland District, as they appear on the 
printed minutes : — 

St. Johns — John Smithies. 

Harbor Grace — John Haigli. 

Carbonear — George Ellidge. 

Blackhead, Western Bay, and Island Cove — ■ 

William Faulkner, Ingham Sutcliff. 
Perlican and Hants' Harbor — Joseph F. Bent. 
Port de Grave — Thomas Angwin. 
Brigus and Cubits — John Fickavant. 
Trinity Bay — William Ellis. 
Bona vista and Catalina — Adam Nightingale. 
Grand Bank — William Murray. 
Burin — James G. Hennigar. 

From this time, the change of ministers between 
Newfoundland and these provinces became very fre- 
quent and included a number of brethren who are still 
our fellow-laborers ; for which reason we shall not 
attempt to sketch any character except those who have 
been called to their reward. 

Beside those of our departed brethren whom we have 
previously noticed, the name of William Murry is 
now on our death-roll. As we had no personal ac- 
quaintance with brother Murry, we shall transcribe the 
obituary notice of him as found in the minutes of the 
British conference : — 

" William Murry was a native of Barnard Castle, Durham, 
and in early life was made a subject of saving grace. Soon after 
his conversion, under a conviction of duty to God and his 
church, he offered himself as a candidate for our mission work, 
and was accepted by the conference. For several years lie la- 
bored In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with benefit to ni-uiy 
souls. In 1834, he was appointed to the Newfoundland District, 



DR. WARREN. 399 

where he preached the gospel with zeal and acceptance in the 
Harbor Grace and Port De Grave Circuits. During his stay in 
the latter circuit, his health became so impaired that his immediate 
removal from the island was necessary. After visiting his native 
land and the West Indies, without any improvement in his health, 
his afflictions were augmented by the death of his beloved wife, 
who exchanged mortality for life, in St. Johns, New Brunswick. 
From that time his affliction increased ; but his consolation in the 
Lord became strong. To many of his brethren he gave satisfac- 
tory evidence of his well- grounded hope in his Redeemer ; and 
terminated his extreme sufferings on the 16th of January, 1840." 

The year 1835 was a time of great agitation and 
anxiety to the Wesleyan connection, owing to the at- 
tempts of Dr. Warren and a body of men calling them- 
selves the " Grand Central Association," who, because 
their views on certain subjects were not adopted and 
carried out, sought to divide our societies and thereby 
destroy the whole influence of Methodism. For a time 
a gloom hung over the connection, and the friends of 
the missionary cause, in some cases, began to despair, 
lest their finances would be so interfered with that 
many mission stations would have to be abandoned and 
the glory of Methodism as a great missionary church 
thus fade and pass away. But our Great Captain would 
not thus abandon his followers. On the contrary, this 
agitation was overruled for good ; the members of our 
church became more firm and decided ; there was an in- 
crease in our societies the very next year of 2,144, in 
Great Britain, and on the mission-stations of 7,577 ; 
and our missionary income for the year ending in April, 
1836, was .£70,996 Is. lid. Our members in New- 
foundland now numbered 1,747, and our total mission- 
ary membership was 61,803. 

From the year 1816 to 1840, a period of twenty-five 
years, the number of our missionaries, and the number 



400 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

and locality of our mission-stations, continued nearly 
the same ; which was sometimes eleven stations, some- 
times twelve, accordingly as eleven or twelve men 
were appointed to the district. But in the year 1841, 
our mission began to extend by the appointment of 
William Marshall as a visiting missionary to that ex- 
tensive tract of cpuntry between Fortune Bay and 
Cape Ray, called the Western Shore. " Visiting 
missionary " was then almost a new phrase in the no- 
menclature of Newfoundland Methodism ; but it was a 
wise arrangement to visit certain harbors dnrino; the 
summer season, and preach the gospel to people, many 
of whom had never heard a sermon or seen a Protest- 
ant minister durino; their whole life. 

Of this important mission, the committee, in their 
report for 1841, page 106, make the following state- 
ment : — 

" Fifty-two harbors have been visited, in several of which the 
inhabitants are deeply sunk in ignorance, superstition, and 
depravity. Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is considered 
that many of them were never visited before by any Christian 
minister within the memory of the oldest settlers ; while in every 
one of them there is a great destitution of the means of reUgious 
improvement. With the exception of one school, which was 
formed by the missionary during his visit, and perhaps one or two 
others, there is no provision made for the education of the rising 
generation along the entire extent of the western shore (a dis- 
tance of about one hundred miles). ' There are,' the visiting 
missionary writes, ' several harbors in which there is not a single 
individual that can read, nor a copy of the sacred volume to be 
found ; and these are Protestants, and chiefly the descendants of 
Englishmen.' These poor neglected sheep of the Redeemer, whom 
he hath purchased with his blood, received the agent of the society 
gladly into their humble dwellings; they listened with breathless at- 
tention and many tears to the message of mercy which he delivered ; 
and on his leaving them, their earnest inquiry was, ' Oh ! when 
shall we see another minister.' The committee trust that the 
time is not distant, when, by means of British benevolence, not 



GREEN BAY. 401 

only the occupants of Hermitage Bay and the voast to the west, 
but the inhabitants of all the hitherto neglected harbors of that 
Island, will have faithful Christian pastors settled amongst them, 
faithfully ' warning and teaching them in all wisdom.' " 

The next year John S. Addj was appointed visiting 
missionary to Green Bay. Thus by means of these 
visiting missionaries the extreme pomts of British New- 
foundland were reached, — for the western shore 
reaches to Cape Ray where the French shore com- 
mences ; and the District of Green Bay extends north- 
east to Cape John, where it terminates. 

The mission to Green Bay was very successful, for in 
the minutes of 1844, 45 members are returned for the 
Green Bay Circuit; WilHam Marshall, who was then 
stationed at Green Bay, in a letter to the committee, 
dated Twillingate, December 6th, 1844, says : — 

" The conduct of our members in the circuit generally, but in 
this place in particular, Is unimpeachable ; they are enabled by 
grace, to walk as becometh the gospel. One has exchanged mor- 
tality for life. He died joyfully triumphing over the last enemy. 
A few have been added to our number, one of whom had been a 
violent persecutor. His wife has been a member of our society 
for the last eighteen months, but was much opposed by him ; she 
stood firm in the hour of trial, and now her prayers are answered 
in his salvation. We give God the glory." 

In several circuits on the island there were revivals 
of religion, and the brethren had great cause for 
thankscrivino; to God and much encouragement in 
their work. 

In 1845, the Wesleyan Missionary Society had 
greatly extended, so that its income reached the large 
amount of £110,462 9s. lOd. ; the number of its mis- 
sionaries was 382 ; its other paid agents, 1,608 ; chil- 
dren in our Sabbath schools, 65,431 ; and our mission- 
ary membership was 102,750. 

34* 



402 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

In Newfoundland we had fifteen circuits and thirteen 
missionaries. The printed station-sheet reads as fol- 
lows : — 

St. Johns — Richard Williams, John Brewster. 

Harbor Grace — William Faulkner. 

Carboxear — John Snowball. 

Blackhead — James Eiialand. 

Island Cove, — James Norris. 

Perlican — William Marshall. 

Port de Grave, — George Elhdge. 

Brigus — John S, Addy. 

BoNAViSTA — Jabez Ingham. 

Burin — Samuel W. Sprague. 

Grand Bank — Adam Nightingale. 

Hermitage Cove — One Avanted. 

Trinity Bay — John Peach. 

Green Bay — Thomas Angwin. 

Hants' Harbor — One wanted. 

Richard Williams, Chairman of District 

Of the missionaries in the above list, the brethren 
Faulkner, Ellidge, and Nightingale, we have before 
spoken. Jabez Ingham is now laboring in England, 
and in 1863, was stationed at Howden, in the Hull 
District. James Norris removed to Canada in 1854 ; 
and in 1863, his station was Stouffville, in the Whitby 
District. John Snowball and Thomas Angwin have re- 
tired from the work as supernumeraries ; John Brews- 
ter, James England, John S. Addy, and Samuel W. 
Sprague are laboring in these provinces ; while the 
Drethren Marshall and Williams have gone to their 
reward. 

William Marshall was born in 1811, and entered the 
ministry in 1838. He was a man of great devotion 
to his work, and the holiness of his life was proverbial. 
He was " instant in season and out of season." But 
his ministerial course was short. He labored for some 
time on the western shore, then removed to the other 



RICHARD WILLIAMS. 403 

extremity of the island, Green Bay, where his labors 
were especially owned of God. He closed his public 
labors with the watch-night services, and died on the 
9th of January, 1846, in the thirty-fifth year of his 
life, and the eighth of his ministry. The minutes 
make this record of this excellent young man : — 

" His memory is embalmed in the hearts of an affectionate peo- 
ple, who have been brought to God chiefly through his instru- 
mentality. In the judgment of his brethren, excessive labors 
and privations injured his constitution, and hastened his end." 

His remains lie interred in Twillingate, awaiting the 
trump of the Archangel, which shall " wake the 
slumberino; dead." 

Richard Williams was bom in the year 1789. His 
parents were members of the Episcopal Church, and 
he was brought up within its pale. When about six- 
teen years of age, under the preaching of Wesley an 
ministers, he was led to see himself a sinner, who must 
experience the pardoning mercy of God or perish for- 
ever. He was directed to look to the " Lamb of God 
who taketh away the sin of the world." He looked 
by faith ; his sins were forgiven, and he was made a 
new creature. He entered the itinerant work in 1813. 
He labored two years in England, when he offered 
himself for the missionary work, and was appointed to 
Quebec. He labored ten years in Canada, when the 
missionary committee appointed him, in 1825, to St. 
John, New Brunswick. Methodism, in that city, was 
then in a languishing and almost a paralyzed condition, 
owing to certain untoward circumstances which had 
occurred the previous year. The firm and judicious 
manner of Mr. Williams tended greatly to allay the 
still existing excitement, to preserve our cause there, 
and give it a new impetus. For several years Mr. 



404 NEWFOU>'DLAXD AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Williams was cliainnan of the New Brunswick Dis- 
trict. He went to England in 1840, and labored two 
years in the Helstone Circuit, in the Cornwall District. 
He returned to New Brunswick in 1842, and was sta- 
tioned at Frederickton ; and the next year he was 
appointed chairman of the Newfoundland District. 
This important position he held for five years, until 
his numerous infirmities compelled him to retire from 
the regular work. He removed to Nova Scotia, and 
resided five years as a supernumerary in the village 
of Bridgetown, in the Annapolis District. Through 
the whole of his ministerial life his character was irre- 
proachable. Firm and inflexible was his attachment 
to all parts of Methodism ; and in carrying out its 
discipline, his manner was thought, by some, to be 
austere, if not stubborn ; but his judgment was gen- 
erally correct, and his decision was made in accord- 
ance with the strictest integrity, and the most consci- 
entious conviction of law and rectitude. He was a 
good divine ; and his preaching was always rich in 
evangelical truth, characterized by a clear exposition 
of our doctrines, particularly by the prominence which 
he gave to those great scriptural doctrines, justification 
by faith and entire hohness. His death was very sud- 
den. It was his frequent prayer that he might labor 
to the end of his life, and he would often express his 
desire in the words of our poet : — 

" Oh, that without a lingering groan, 
I may the welcome woid receive ; 
My body with my charge lay down, 
And cease at once to work and live ! " 

His prayer was answere<;l, for he preached, on the 
Sabbath previous to his death, at Tu])j)erville, from 
Isaiah xl. 31. On Thursday afternoon he was ob- 



LABRADOR. 405 

served to be unusually cheerful, and retired to rest 
witliout any apparent change in his health. About 
midnight he complained of cold ; when a light was 
procured, the sweat of death was upon him ; he raised 
his eyes to heaven as if in devotion, fell back upon his 
pillow, and expired without a sigh or groan. He died 
August 1st, 1856, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, 
and the forty^fifth of his ministry. 

LABRADOR. 

It is the practice of many wealthy planters in New- 
foundland, who own schooners, when those schooners 
have returned from the ice in the spring, to refit, and 
send them to the coast of Labrador for the summer 
fishing. In these vessels many entire families and 
hundreds of individuals go to prosecute their business, 
and are thus absent for months from the means of 
grace, and from all religious instruction. Many 
persons also go there from Nova Scotia, and the United 
States, for the purpose of fishing ; besides which, a 
motley group of traders, settlers, sailors, and Indians, 
are found in the different harbors of those distant 
shores, wdio make no profession of religion, take no 
notice whatever of the holy Sabbath, and who spend 
wdiat leisure they may have, in dancing, drinking, and 
other acts of dissipation and crime. Many members 
of our church were among these itinerant fishermen, 
who deeply felt their loss and destitution ; and not a 
few of them yielded to the temptations by which they 
were surrounded, and fell from the way of religion 
and truth. 

For many years had the missionaries deplored this 
state of things, and mourned over those backsliders 
who were so frequently produced thereby. But 



406 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

what to do, or how to apply a remedy, they coiild not 
tell, until the " Visiting Missionary " system came into 
operation, when it was soon seen that this would meet 
the case exactly. Therefore, after trying the experi- 
ment with success at the western shore, the coast of 
Labrador was taken up as a proper place where one of 
the brethren miiiht be usefully employed in preaching 
the gospel during the summer months. Accordingly, 
in the summer of 1845, a visiting missionary was sent 
there and held religious services, as class-meetings, 
prayer-meetings, and preaching the gospel, in fourteen 
different places along the coast. This most important 
missionary work is still carried on with vigor by the 
brethren of the Newfoundland District. 

In Canada the mission work had greatly extended. 
The first Wesley an appointment to that country was 
in 1814, when John Strong, was sent to Quebec, and 
the number of our members in all Canada was thirty- 
two. In 1847, the mission stations in Canada were 
organized into a separate conference, with Robert 
Alder, D. D., President, and Matthew Richey, A. M., 
co-delegate. The Canada Conference was the first 
of the " affiliated conferences," and at its commence- 
ment it had six districts, 88 circuits, 181 ministers, 
and supernumeraries, and 21,749 members. 

NEWFOUNDLAND BIBLE SOCIETY. 

For many years had " the British and Foreign Bible 
Society " liberally supplied copies of the Holy Scrip- 
tures to the people " without money and without 
price ; " but at length the Christian public of St. Johns 
felt it was their duty for themselves to become sub- 
scribers, and assist the parent body in their noble effort 
to supply every human being witli a copy of the word 



NEWFOUNDLAND BIBLE SOCIETY. 407 

of God. Accordingly, in the month of March, 1846, a 
few individuals met together to talk the matter over, 
and to make arrangements for the formation of an 
auxiliary Bible Society for the Island of Newfound- 
land. In the month of May following, a public 
meeting was held in the Commercial Room, when the 
Bible Society was organized, of which the Honorable 
William Thomas was chosen the first president. The 
friends of the Bible Society now began zealously to 
solicit subscriptions in order to promote the objects of 
the society, when their efforts received a severe check 
by a great fire, which occurred on the 9th of June, 
and which laid a great part of the town in ashes. 
Before the people had recovered from the shock and 
suffering occasioned by this conflagration, another fear- 
ful catastrophe happened ; it was a violent hurricane 
with which the eastern coast was visited on the 19th 
of September. The wind was from the north-east, 
and blew directly upon the shore ; many fishing-boats, 
and several larger vessels were driven ashore, and near 
twenty persons were known to have found a watery 
grave. Fishing-nets and fishing-stages were destroyed 
bv the undertow ; fishincr-fiakes were blown down, the 
fish scattered on the ground, and the means the poor 
fishermen had of purchasing their winter's supplies 
were thus taken away. In the forest many trees were 
torn up by the roots. In the town of St. Johns, the 
new Episcopal Church, although not thrown down, was 
moved from its foundation ; a large hall, which had 
afforded shelter to many whose houses were destroyed 
in the late fire, was blown down, and several persons 
buried in the ruins ; two were killed on the spot, and 
others were seriously injured ; many houses were 
injured and some were destroyed. Added to this, the 



408 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

potato crop foiled, and starvation drove many persons 
from the out-harbor to the metropoHs to seek tor assist- 
ance to enable them to pass the coming winter. 

In the midst of all this suffering, the friends of the 
Bible Society in St. Johns, while they gave amply of 
their means to support the poor, also gave liberally to 
the funds of the society. The first anniversary of the 
Newfoundland Auxiliary Bible Society was held on 
Wednesday, March 24, 1847, at which were present 
all the ministers of the non-conforming bodies, and 
many of the most pious and most respectable laymen 
on the island. The parent society in their published 
report for that year, acknowledge the receipt from St. 
Johns, Newfoundland, of the sum of .£125 sterling, as 
a free contribution ; besides which Bibles and testa- 
ments were ordered for sale, to the amount of 
£121 16s. Id. sterhng. 

In the year 1849, commenced what was called the 
*' Fly-Sheet " agitation ; by which the connection in 
various parts of England was seriously disturbed. 
These " fly-sheets " were anonymous publications, 
issued either by certain ministers of the conference, 
o«r with their connivance and knowledge. No. 1 of 
these hostile publications came from the press in either 
1844, or 1845. No. 2 was published in 1846; and 
No. 3, in 1847. These papers were characterized by 
intense bitterness of feeling in reference to certain ex- 
cellent ministers who were their brethren, and whom 
they described as ''indolent," "selfish," ''artful," 
" ambitious," and " tyrannical ; " and also by other 
personalities so grossly offensive and libellous, that the 
parties issuing them did not dare to affix the name of 
either the printer or publisher. And further : " they 
declared that the resources of the connection were per- 



FLY-SHEET AGITATION. 409 

verted to uphold a system of favoritism, oppression, 
and extravagance ; that many of the pubUc acts of the 
conference proceeded from corrupt motives, or were of 
a mischievous tendency ; and while suggesting exten- 
sive changes in its system of proceeding, and represent- 
ing the members of the conference as enslaved, and 
longing for emancipation, they exhorted them to 
vigorous and united efforts to shake off the unhallowed 
yoke." 1 

No well regulated body could long exist if its mem- 
bers were thus allowed to insult and assail each other ; 
"hence it became a matter of justice as well as of 
necessity to bring the discipline of the body to bear 
against the offending parties. The result was that 
three ministers were expelled from the connection, and 
three others were formally censured. But the agita- 
tion continued, and althoucrh the minutes of 1850 
report an increase in Great Britain of 10,000 members ; 
yet the minutes of 1851 show a decrease of 46,068 ; 
and the minutes of 1852 show a further decrease of 
20,946 ; in 1853, the decrease was 10,298 ; in 1854, 
6,797; in 1855, 3,310. The total loss of members 
during these five years was 97,858 ; so that while our 
members in 1850 were 358,277, in 1855, they were only 
260,858. Here the ebb ceased, and there has been con- 
stant increase of members to our church in Great Britain 
every year since. Many of our people after a time re- 
turned ; many thousands never returned ; but great 
numbers returned to the world and to their former evil 
ways. Terrible as were these trials, they had their 
benefits, for they removed from us the contentious and 
disaffected, and the connection has had peace ever 
since. Another benefit was, they led to a full ex- 

1 Minutes of Conference for 1849, p. 166. 
35 



410 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

planation of some of our rules, which many persons 
considered as not sufficiently explicit. Thus the agita- 
tion of Dr. Warren led to a clear and explicit view of 
Methodistic law as to the trial of private members and 
their right of appeal. This is explained in the minutes 
of 1835. The "fly-sheet" agitation led to a clear 
" definition of Quarterly Meetings," a^ to their com- 
position, " regidations concerning memorials to the 
conference," and the mode of " trial of a trustee." 
This is found in the minutes of 1852. 

While the Methodist Church in England was passing 
through this great ordeal, and their numbers. were de- 
creased by nearly one hundred thousand members, the 
malcontents tried to " stop the supplies," and in par- 
ticular the missionary '' supplies ; " yet, God blessed 
and prospered the missionary work to an extent that 
excited the astonishment and gratitude of the whole 
connection. The income of the society for 1852 was 
<£102,730 19«. 9c?.; the number of missionaries, 476; 
and our missionary membership, 108,078. 

This same year a second affiliated conference was 
formed. It was the French Conference. It was in- 
deed small ; its circuits were only nine in number ; its 
ministers, nineteen ; and its members, eight hundred 
and nineteen. Our membership in Newfoundland 
was now two thousand four hundred and forty- 
two. 

The year 1855 will be noticed by Wesleyan histori- 
ans in future time as the year when two affiliated con- 
ferences were organized : — 

I. The Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Con- 
ference. 

The first session of this conference was held in Sid- 



CONFERENCES. 



411 



ney ; it commenced on the 18th of January, under 
the presidency of the Rev. Wilham Binnington Boyce. 
It began under auspicious circumstances. It had one 
Imndred and sixteen ministers, besides a number of 
native assistant missionaries, nearly eight hundred chap- 
els and other preaching places, nineteen thousand eight 
hundred and ninety-seven church members, with one 
thousand nine hundred and fifty-six on trial. 

II. The Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist 
Connection, or Church of Eastern British 
America. 

The first session of this conference commenced in 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 17, 1855, under the presi- 
dency of the Rev. John Beecham, D. D. Co-Delegate, 
Rev. Matthew Richey, D. D. Secretary, Rev. William 
Temple. 

This conference embraces the Provinces of Nova 
Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, New- 
foundland, and Bermuda. Our statistics will be un-' 
derstood by the following table : — 

Tabular view of the Wesleyan Church of E. B. A., at its first conference. 





i 












» 








rs ci 


I 


li 

?i s 


A 
% 




o fab 


i 
S 


1^ 


fe 
^ 

^ 








g5 




St 

"^ Ml 


1 


t 

O 


■?1 


1 


it 


1 


1 


1 


a 


No. wh 
Public \ 


70 


88 


102 


222 


393 


16 


1162 


160 


1138 


9111 


13,136 


65,690 



The Newfoundland membership was two thousand 
five hundred and eighty-six ; and of the sixteen day 
schools under the care of the conference, fifteen of 



412 NEWFOUNDLAND AND IT3 MISSIONARIES. 

them, containing nine hundred and twentv-two schol- 
ars, were in Ne\vfoundland. 

Tlie formation of the districts in the lower prov- 
inces into a distinct and independent conference, had 
been expected for several years; and by most of the 
ministers was much desired, as in their judgment it 
would tend to consolidate and extend the work among 
our widely scattered and rapidly increasing population. 

Perhaps there was not a man in the British confer- 
ence more fit to arrange, and carry out this important 
measure, than the now sainted John Beecham, who 
presided upon that occasion. Thoroughly acquainted 
with all the minutlas of Methodism, he could promptly 
reply to every inquiry ; and while with us his labors 
were untiring, and in his official position he evinced 
the wisdom of the sage, the firmness of the judge, the 
accuracy of the mathematician, the urbanity of the 
gentleman, and, above all, the kindness of a Christian 
brother. But his work was almost done ; he reached 
EnMand a little before the close of conference, and 
early in the ensuing spring he was called to his reward.- 
From the death-roll of the British Conference we 
make the following extract : — 

"John Beecham, D. D., was born at Bartholdy-le-Beck, 
Lincolnshire, in 1787, and entered the mhiistry in 1815. In 
early life he acquired a good store of theological knowledge, and 
of useful and diversified information, and he was habitually a 
diligent and humble student of the sacred oracles ; so that, both by 
public and private labors, he fed the people of his charge ' with 
knowledge and undei'standing.' The purity of his character, 
together with his assiduous and punctual discharge of every duty, 
and fidelity to every obligation, gave weight to his utterances, and 
won the confidence and respect of all who were acquainted with 
hlni ; while the habitual kindness of his heart endeared him to the 
poor and the afflicted, to whom, as a pastor, he was constantly 



STATIONS. 413 

attentive. In 1831, he was appointed one of the gen-^ral secre- 
taries of onr missionary society. For the long space of twenty- 
four years, he labored incessantly and devoutly in that office to 
promote the work of God ; and he had the gratification of witness- 
ing its gradual advancement to a state of prosperity far beyond 
his anticipations. In the latter years of his life, he was much 
occupied in the constituting of affiliated conferences, with a view 
to the extension of the work of God in different parts of the 
world; and his labors in pursuance of this object were eminently 
successful. Having witnessed the formation of such bodies in 
France, Australasia, and Canada, he undertook to visit the 
Eastern Provinces of British America, and, having presided over 
a new conference held in Nova Scotia, returned to Leeds, just 
before the close of the last British Conference. His account of 
that mission displayed a peculiar aptitude for such an undertaking, 
and led many who heard it once more to glorify God in him. 
His last days were eminently peaceful. Finding his health fail, 
he sought to recruit it by a month's quiet at the sea-side ; but 
having taken cold there, he returned home much worse, and in six 
days after his return passed to an eternal rest. No vain regrets 
or harassing anxieties disturbed his last hours. All was quietness 
and assurance. ' Do you know that you are dying sir ? ' said one 
to him a few moments before he passed away. ' No,' said he, 
' but all is well.' To another he said, ' There are the shining 
ones. They are waiting for me. I shall soon be with them. 
There is a sharp, thorny bridge to pass, but it will soon be over.' 
He died on the 2 2d of April, 1856, in the sixty-ninth year of his 



The stations for the Newfoundland District, at the 
first conference, were as follows : — 

St. Johns — Thomas Angwln, Samuel W. Sprague. 

Harbor Grace — one to be sent. 

Carbonear — William E. Shenston. 

Brigus — John E. Phinney. 

Port de Grave — Adam Nightingale. 

Blackhead — John S. Addy. 

Island Cove — One to be sent. 

Perlican — One to be sent, 

Hants' Harbor — Paul Prestwood. 

35 * 



414 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Trinity — Vacant. 

Bona VISTA — Thomas Smith. 

Green Bay — Under the care of the chairman. 

Burin — Elias Brettle. 

Grand Bank — John S. Peach. 

Thomas Angwin, Chairman of the Distriet. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



KOBERT A. CHESLEY — NEW CHAPEL IN ST. JOHNS — OREEN BAY CIR- 
CUIT — MISSIONS OF CONFERENCE — MR. COMBENS MISSION TO 
LABRADOR — MR. FOX — MR. GOODISON — PRESIDENT BOYCE — 
THOMAS GAETZ — W. S. SHENSTONE — JUBILEE OF THE WESLEYAN 
MISSIONARY SOCIETY — JUBILEE MOVEMENT IN E. B. A. CONFER- 
ENCE — JUBILEE MEETING IN ST. JOHNS, NEWFOUNDLAND — PRES- 
IDENT THORNTON — REV. ROBINSON SCOTT — STATIONS FOR 1864 — 
MEMBERS IN NEWFOUNDLAND — CONCLUSION. 



THE total population, within the bounds of the 
" Eastern British American Conference," is com- 
puted at seven hundred and fifty thousand souls ; about 
one-tenth of whom are under the direct teaching and 
influence of the Wesleyan ministry. During the 
first year of our conference the missionary com- 
mittee showed great kindness by sending out two 
additional missionaries to Newfoundland. These were 
Charles Comben and James Dove. This same year, 
Robert A. Chesley was appointed to St. Johns ; but 
he was in his new station little more than three months, 
before he was called to his reward. The death-roll of 
conference for 1857, contains the following obituary 
notice : — 

" Robert Ainslie Chesley was born at Granville, ^ova Scotia, 
in the year 1816, and died at St. Johns, Newfoundland, on 
Thursday, November 27, 1856, in the fortieth year of his age, and 
the fourteenth of his ministry. At the age of twenty-three, he 
was brought to an experimental knowledge of the truth, and 
became ' a new creature in Christ Jesus.' From the time of his 

(415) 



416 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

conversion he felt an ardent love for souls, and sought to render 
himself useful and to glorify God by assisting to hold prayer- 
meetings, and afterwards exercised his talents as a local preacher. 
Believing he had a divine call to the sacred office of the ministry, 
he offered himself for the great work with much fear and trem- 
bling ; and being approved "and received, entered upon the duties 
of the Christian ministry in the year 1843. As a Christian, he 
was eminently devoted and exemplary, and sought to adorn the 
doctrine of God his Saviour in all things He was an Israelite 
indeed, in whom there was no guile. He walked with God, and 
his path shone brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. In the 
discharge of his sacred functions, he was faithful, zealous, and un- 
wearied. Whatsoever his hand found to do, he did it with his 
might As a preacher of the gospel, he affectionately, clearly, 
and successfully propounded its saving truths, giving prominence 
in his public ministrations to the all-important doctrine of holiness 
and entire consecration to Christ. His labors were abundantly 
owned and blessed. Many were the seals to his ministry in the 
various circuits upon which he labored as an ambassador for 
Christ. To pastoral visitation he paid strict and constantAtten- 
tion, and his amiability, benevolence, sympathy, and solicitude for 
the good of others, endeared him to the flocks over which he 
watched with pastoral care. At the last conference he was 
appointed to the superintendency of the St. Johns' circuit. He 
went to his new sphere of labor with enlarged expectations, and 
entered upon his duties with assiduity and earnestness. During 
his brief sojourn in St. Johns, he gained the affections of all with 
whom he became acquainted, and was rendered very useful in 
his work of faith and labor of love. The illness which terminated 
in his death was caused by exposure and excessive toil during 
the prosecution of his sacred duties. The disease, which so 
speedily resulted in his unexpected and lamented decease, was of 
that nature which prevented him from conversing much upon 
divine subjects; but his mind was kept in peace, and with 
resignation he was enabled to commit the keeping of his body and 
soul to God, knowing in whom he had believed. Those holy 
truths which he had so long proclaimed were his comfort and sup- 
port during his last hours. After only seven days' sickness he de- 
parted this life in possession of a sure and certain hope of 
immortal blessedness. Great, indeed, is the loss of the church of 



NEW CHAPEL IN ST. JOHNS. 417 

Christ and his afflicted family and friends, by the sudden and 
mysterious removal of one so talented and eminently qualified for 
extensive usefulness. But their loss is his eternal gain." 

In the summer of 1857, James A. Duke was sent 
out by tlie cammittee as a missionary for the shores 
of Labrador, and a free passage was given him 
from England to St. Johns, in a vessel belonging to 
the Hon. Mr. Rogerson. Mr. Duke, however, did 
not arrive in time to proceed to Labrador that sum- 
mer, in consequence of which, he was stationed in 
Carbonear, under the superintendency of Christopher 
Lockhart. 

In the month of January, 1858, the new chapel in 
St. Johns was opened, and on the sixth of that 
month, Henry Daniel, the chairman of the district, 
wrote to the committee in which he says : — "At 
present nearly all the sittings are engaged. Our 
congregations are large and the spiritual state of our 
society is encouraging. We need your sympathy and 
prayers. Popery has an awful grasp on this com- 
munity, and Puseyism, a second edition of it, spreads a 
deadly blight over the largest portion. Methodism 
has a great mission to this island. The Lord make us 
faithful and zealous." An interesting account of the 
Green Bay Circuit was given at this time by Mr. 
Prestwood, from which we make the following ex- 
tract : — 

"This circuit is extensive and important; nearly two thousand 
people, according to the census taken this year, belong to us either 
as members or hearers; they are scattered almost all round the 
shores of this large bay, and many more would gladly attend our 
ministry had they the privilege. Of these some do not heai 
a sermon preached more than once or twice a year. They are 
anxious to obtain another preacher in this circuit, and intend to 
apply for one. For some time past a gracious revival of religion 



418 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

has been experienced in different parts of the circuit, especially 
during the last winter. At Twillin,gate, last spring, many were 
converted to God, and, we are thankful to say, hold fast the 
profession of their faith, and prove the reality of their conversion 
by a consistent walk and conduct. The state of the society is en- 
couraging; the members are sincere, and anxio^JS for the salvation 
of their souls. Most heartily do they thank God for the gospel, 
and for the appointment of the Wesleyan missionaries, whom they 
term ' men after God's own heart.' " 

In the year 1859, the first missions of conference of 
Eastern British America are mentioned in the minutes. 
They were three in number, and all stood connected 
with the Newfoundland District. They stand thus : — 

MISSIONS OF CONFERENCE. 

Labrador — Supplied during the summer months by Charles 

Comben. 
Petites and Western Shore — To be supplied by the 

Chairman. 
Exploits and Little Bay Islands — James A. Duke. 

The ministers of the conference wore so impressed 
with tlie importance of the Labrador Mission, that they 
unanimously passed the following resolution : — 

MISSION TO LABRADOR. 

" Resolved, That the conference recognizes its obligation to sus- 
tain the mission to Labrador to the utmost extent of its ability, 
and the brethren are directed that when the collection for the 
' Home Mission and Contingent Fund' is taken up, the claims of 
this mission be urged upon the attention of our friends, and that 
they be requested to contribute liberally to the fund, in order 
that this important mission may be well sustained." 

Mr. Comben went to Labrador in June, and an- 
chored in Red Bay on the 30th of the month. Here he 
found eighty persons resident, and about forty more who 
were there during the summer. Most of these were Wes- 



MR. COMBEN. 419 

leyans fi'om Newfoundland. These people brought 
their religion with them, and in consequence held relig- 
ious services as prayer-meetings and class-meetings, and 
also held a Sabbath school. He met a class of thirteen 
persons, six of whom were from Carbon ear. Thirty 
miles from Red Bay are Henly Harbor and Cha- 
teaux. In the former place he found some friends resi- 
dent, and about eighty persons who were there for the 
summer ; in the latter about fifty Wesleyan residents, 
and near a hundred summer visitors, all from New- 
foundland, besides a number of persons from Nova 
Scotia. A class-meeting was regularly held in one 
of these places, and prayer-meetings were held in both. 
He next visited Cape Charles Harbor, in the 52d de- 
gree of north latitude. There he found one hundred 
and forty Wesleyans from Newfoundland, besides a 
number of Episcopalians, and likewise a number of 
persons from Nova Scotia. Here he had a congregation 
of two hundred persons. He visited about twelve or 
fourteen harbors, in most of which he found some Wes- 
leyans, and in all he was received with great kindness ; 
and the universal wish was, that as business called 
them to those shores, they would not be left as sheep 
without a shepherd, but that our ministers would year- 
ly visit them in their distant wanderings, and preach to 
them the words of life and salvation. 

The brethren of the Newfoundland district deserve 
all honor for carrying out so fully the resolution of the 
conference in reference to the Labrador Mission ; and 
the missionary committee in London were so well sat- 
isfied with the measure, that they published the journal 
of Mr. Comben's visit in extenso in their large report 
for the year 1860. 

Li the summer of 1860, the Rev. Thomas Fox vis- 



420 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

iteJ Labrador. He arrived at Cape Charles Harbor 
on the ITth of June, and laid out, as his missionary 
tour, an extent of coast of from two hundred to two 
hundred and fifty miles, for all that distance is consid- 
ered as within the bounds of the mission. He visited 
twenty-four harbors and coves, and preached to congre- 
gations composed of Newfoimdlanders, Nova Scotians, 
Englishmen, Americans, and Indians, including both 
the Esquimaux and Mountaineers. 

The next year Mr. Fox went again to Labrador, 
and at Cape Charles he says : " Here I met with a wel- 
come at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Hayward Taylor 
of Carbonear. Stayed nearly a week, held services 
and visited the people." It was not surprising that 
Mr. Fox should be received with a welcome by Mr. 
Taylor and his kind lady, for the house of Mr. Taylor, 
of Carbonear, has been a home for Wesleyan ministers 
for more than half a century. During this mission 
tour, Mr. Fox sailed over four hundred miles alon^ 
the coast, visited between twenty and thirty harbors, 
preached about sixty times, held a number of prayer- 
meetings and class-meetings, read the Scriptures and 
prayed from house to house, baptized a number of 
children, and called the attention of the people to the 
erection of six chapels. He was everywhere received 
with kindness, heard with attention, and his visits were 
made a blessing to the people. 

The Labrador mission is a very important one, and 
it is to be desired that one or more ministers will soon 
be sent to reside on the coast, particularly as we have 
between forty and fifty Wesleyan families already 
resident there. 

MR. GOODISOn's mission. 

In 1862, John Goodison was sent to Labrador by 



WILLIAM B. BOYCE. 421 

the brethren of the Newfoundland District. He sailed 
in the government cutter Duck. Owing to rough 
weather, the great quantity of field-ice, and the num- 
erous iceberos, he did not reach Labrador until the 
5th of July. He coasted in a whale-boat, and during 
the summer sailed over three hundred miles, visited 
some hundreds of families in the different harbors, 
preached many times, got several Sabbath schools in 
operation, and distributed some thousands of books and 
tracts. In reference to the result of his mission he 
says : — 

" I have seen many souls converted to God, some few back- 
sliders reclaimed, and believers in Christ filled with divine love. 
One chapel has been erected, the frames of two others are ready 
to be put up, and next summer it is expected that at Cape Charles, 
another will be reared." 

The Labrador Mission continues to eno;ao;e the at- 
tention of the brethren of Newfoundland and of the 
conference. 

In 1861, the conference of Eastern British America 
was honored in having, as its president, the Rev. Wil- 
liam B. Boyce, one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan 
Methodist Missionary Society. 

Before the conference, Mr. Boyce visited Nova 
Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, and 
Newfoundland. Of this last mentioned island he 
reported as follows : — 

" The religious value of this mission cannot be too highly esti- 
mated. Here we do battle with popery in the very gateway 
of America, and by the blessing of God, Methodism has saved 
the Protestantism of the island ; for it is a remarkable fact 
that in the districts where our first missionaries labored, the 
people remain Protestant ; elsewhere they are mainly Papists, 
and unless we follow the population the new settlements will 
become popish also, — a merely nominal Protestantism being no 



422 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

defence against the Man of Sin. The population* of Newfound- 
land, in 1857, was 119,304; of which 20,144 are returned as 
Methodists, being little more than one-sixth of the whole, — a larger 
proportion I think, than is found in any other mission-field ex- 
cept, perhaps, some of the West Indian colonies. The Romanists 
are 55,309; but the Protestants of the several denominations, 
Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and others outnumber them 
by about 10,000. The Romanism of the island is of the most 
virulent sort, and is felt, even by those who do not look at the 
question religiously, to be a social and political evil of no com- 
mon magnitude. Vexed questions of local politics cannot alto- 
gether be avoided, as, where popish intolerance is rampant, it 
becomes the duty even of Christians to resist it by every con- 
stitutional means. I arrived in Newfoundland in the midst of 
a great reactionary movement against popish political influence, 
which is going on in all our American colonies, and found our 
people taking a warm part on the Protestant side. There is 
some danger in this, yet how can it be avoided? One might as 
well blame the rebuilders of Jerusalem for going armed to their 
sacred and patriotic work. 

" On the Labrador Mission, I will merely remark, that it is grate- 
fully recognized as a boon to hundreds of families in New- 
foundland, whose husbands, brothers, or fathers are cared for by 
it, when far distant from home, and exposed to great dangers 
and temptations. It is an enterprise of the purest mercy and 
love." 2 

This conference (1861) had to record the death of 
another Newfoundland missionary, Mr. Thomas Gaetz, 
a young man of piety and promise. The record reads 
thus : — 

" Thomas Gaetz was born at Musquodobit Harbor, Nova 
Scot'a, on the fifth of October, 1831. He was thoughtful and 
studious when a child, and at twelve years was soundly con- 
verted to God. Very soon after his conversion he felt a strong 

^ This was exclusive of the British population on the French shore, where 
there are resident 3,334 British subjects, making the total British pop- 
ulation, 122,638. See the table of population, p. 96. 

2 Report of Methodist Missionary Society, 1862, p. 180. 



W. S. SHENSTONE. 423 

desire for the salvation of sinners; and feeling that he was 
called of God to preach the gospel, he was at an early age en- 
gaged as a local preacher; but, desiring to devote himself fully 
to the work of God, he became a candidate for the ministry 
among us in the year 1851 ; since which time he has labored with 
acceptance and success in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, 
and Newfoundland. 

" In the Grand Bank Circuit his labors were greatly owned of 
God. His name is, and long will be, a household word. He 
never spared himself, but often labored "beyond his strength, 
such was his anxiety to do good. He was appointed by the 
last conference to the Old Perlican Circuit. Immediately on 
his arrival he commenced his labor with great zeal, yea, intense 
ardor ; and although with this people so short a time, yet he was 
endeared to them, greatly beloved by them, and his death was 
deeply lamented. When told he could not recover without 
some speedy alteration, he exclaimed, ' Well, my peace is made 
with God.' His last words were, ' Jesus is my love ! ' after 
which he fell asleep in Christ on the 24th of October, 1860, in 
the 29th year of his age, and the 10th year of his ministry." 

The death-roll of our conference for 1862 records 
another laborer in Newfoundland, — Mr. William Sam- 
uel Shenstone, son of the Rev. W. E. Shenstone, who 
had been a travelling minister for nearly forty years. 
Both father and son were travelling in Newfound- 
land. The father was stationed at Port de Grave, 
and the son at Hants' Harbor. Mr. Shenstone, Jun., 
was a pious, zealous, prayerful young man, and there 
was much probability that he would be very useful as 
a Christian minister. But he was called away to a 
better land. 

When the question was asked " What ministers have 
died since the last conference?" four names were 
given. The first was Mr. Shenstone. The minute 
reads : — 

" William Samuel Shenstone, who was born at Three Rivers, 



424 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Canada East, in the year 1838. He feared the Lord from his 
youth. Amiability of disposition, dutifuhiess to his parents, frater- 
nal affection, intense love of study, and aptness to accumulate 
mental stores, were marked elements in his character. At the 
age of sixteen, he was convinced of the need of divine forgive- 
ness, and a change of heart, and sought, by humble confession of 
sin and trust in the atonement of Christ, the great salvation ; and 
in him was fulfilled the promise, then shall they find me, ' when 
they search for me with their whole heart.' 

" He obtained peace through believing. At the conference of 
1858, he was accepted as a candidate for our ministry^ and was 
appointed to the Bonavlsta Circuit, where he labored with great 
acceptance and success. He was subsequently appointed to the 
Carbonear Circuit, where his Divine Master blessed him, and made 
him a blessing. He received such a baptism of the Holy Spirit, 
as to lead him to a closer walk with God. At the conference of 
1861, he was appointed to the Hants' Harbor Circuit, where he 
entered upon his labors with much prayer, a deep sense of re- 
sponsibility, and a holy resolution to consecrate his energies to the 
great work of seeking the salvation of souls, and the edification of 
the church. But he had only labored about a week when he 
was stricken down by affliction which baffled medical skill ; and, 
after about three weeks of severe suffering, during wliich his trust 
in Christ was firm and unshaken, God took him to an early 
rest in heaven. His last words were ' The best of it is God is 
with us.' He died in peace, August 31st, 1861, in the 25th year 
of his age, and the fourth of his ministry." 

The year 1863 was a time of great rejoicing to 
the whole Wesleyan connection. It was the jubilee 
of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. That society, as 
we have seen, was formed in 1813 ; and, during these 
fifty years of its existence, God has prospered it to 
an extent that was never anticipated by its most san- 
guine friends. In 1813, our missionary sphere was 
limited : we had twenty-six .missionaries in the West 
Indies, one in Bermuda, thirteen in Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick, and three in Newfoundland ; 
making a total of forty-three missionaries. Our mis- 



THE JUBILEE. 425 

sionary memberslilp was then only 17,025. In 1863, 
our ministers and assistant missionaries numbered 889, 
and our missionary membership was 142,789, besides 
13,804 on trial 

In 1813, we had no missionaries in France, Italy, 
Africa, China, Australasia, Polynesia or Canada ; nor 
had we a printing-press out of the United Kingdom. 
But in 1863, we had ministers in all the above places, 
with eight printing-presses, four affiliated conferences, 
and 146,457 children in our different Sabbath schools. 
The annual income for missionary purposes, down to 
1813, was seldom much more than £4000, but the 
balance sheet of the society, for 1863, shows an in- 
come of X 141,638 16s. M, 

In gratitude for this great success, the friends of 
missions in England determined to hold a jubilee, and, 
by an extra exertion, to raise a fund to be called the Ju- 
bilee Fund ; the object being to assist the general 
missionary fund, by providing a college for training 
missionary candidates ; to provide for disabled mis* 
sionaries, and for widows and orphans of deceased 
missionaries ; also to assist the work in France, Italy, 
India, China, and in various ways to promote the ex- 
tension of missionary operations, and the conversion 
of the world from sin to God. 

The first blast of the jubilee-trumpet was heard in 
Leeds, where, fifty years before, the missionary soci- . 
ety had been formed. But oh, the ravages of death ! but 
few were present at the jubilee that witnessed the forma- 
tion of the society. Those pious and zealous ministers, 
George Morley and James Buckley, have long gone 
to their reward ; the erudite Richard Watson and 
the profoundly eloquent Jabez Bunting are now with 
the '•■^ hymning multitude," receiving the reward of 

36 * 



426 . Nt:WFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

their faithful labors wliile on earth. Thomas Thomp- 
son, the chairman and Methodist local preacher, who 
was neither afraid nor ashamed to advocate the cause 
of righteousness and religion before the British senate, 
has realized the promise, " Whosoever, therefore, shall 
confess me before men, him will I confess also be- 
fore my Father which is in heaven." But we must 
not regret, for he who took those men from the church 
militant is still with us, and we have received the 
fulfilment of that assurance, which he gave by tlie 
mouth of his servant David, " Instead of thy fathers, 
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes 
in all the earth." The missionary spirit of 1813 lias 
fallen on the church, in 1863, to an extent that was 
never before seen ; the benefit of which unknown na- 
tions shall realize, and by which unborn generations 
shall be blessed. The public jubilee meeting was 
preceded by numerous religious exercises, as special 
sermons, special prayer-meetings, and special love- 
feasts, besides the many petitions that ascended to the 
throne of grace from the closet, and fi-om the family 
altar for success in the enterprise. Prayer was heard, 
and a spirit of liberality was evinced by the Wesleyan 
church that has surprised the whole Christian world. 
The money subscribed in one week was X 35,000. 

The jubilee movement thus inaugurated at Leeds, 
in the montli of October, was speedily followed by 
corresponding action in every district and in every 
circuit throughout the United Kingdom ; it extended to 
all the afiiliated conferences, and to all the mission- 
stations ; in fact, a similar spirit to that which in- 
fluenced the meeting in Leeds seems to have perme- 
ated every heart through tlie entire range of British 
Methodism. The financial I'esult is not yet known. 



THE JUBILEE. 427 

The jubilee movement did not commence in the 
conference of Eastern British America until the 
month of Julj, 1864. 

Newfoundland, which is never behind in any good 
thing, has taken an important part. To that country 
the time was most inauspicious. Both the seal-fishery 
in the spring, and the cod-fishery in the summer, had 
failed, and pinching poverty stared multitudes directly 
in the face. Some thought it unwise and impolitic to 
attempt any special effort for pecuniary purposes and 
that a postponement would be the better plan. Amidst 
many discouragements a public meeting was held 
in St. Johns and the noble sum of $1600 or X400 
was subscribed. The following sums were also ex- 
pected to be raised : from Carbonear, |240, Harbor 
Grace, |400, and Brigus, $300 ; making a total for 
the island, of $ 2540 ; and this in a season of almost 
unparalleled failure and distress. The Lord will surely 
bless that people. 

Our conference of 1864 was again honored with a 
representative from the British Conference, in the 
person of the Rev. William L. Thornton, M. A., ac- 
companied by the Rev. Robinson Scott, a representative 
from the Irish Conference. The wise counsels of these 
excellent brethren, their ardent zeal, their earnest 
prayers, their Christian courtesy, their pulpit ser- 
vices, — and to mention one case, the address of Mr. 
Thornton to the young men who were received into 
full connection, : — were of a character that wdll endear 
their names to them while life shall last, and can never 
be erased from the minds and memories of those who 
had the privilege of being present. 

At this conference the Newfoundland District num- 
bered fourteen circuits, eight mission stations, and 
twenty-tw^o ministers. 



428 'NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

The following are the stations for the present year, 
1864-5. 

St. Johns — P. Prestwood, A. W. Turner, Joseph Gaetz, 

Adam Nightingale, Supernumerary. 
Harbor Grace — James Dove. 
Carbonear — J. Winterbotham, John Allen. 
Brigus — Thomas Harris. 
Port de Grave — Joseph Pascoe. 
Blackhead — John Waterhouse. 
Island Cove — W. E. Shenstone. 
Old Perlican — John S. Peach. 
Hants' Harbor — One to be sent. 
Trinity — Charles Ladner. 
Bona VISTA — Charles Comben, J. Goodison. 
TwiLLiNGATE — James A. Duke. 
Burin — S. T. Teed. 
Grand Bank — John S. Phinney. 

MISSIONS. 

Labrador — John Allen, for the summer months. 

Petites — John M. Pike. 

Channel — Isaac Howie. 

Exploits — J. A. Rogers. 

FoGO AND Change Islands — Thomas Fox. 

Little Bay^ Islands — To be supplied by the chairman. 

Green's Pond — One wanted. 

Spencer's Pond — One wanted. 

John S. Peach, Chairman. 
James Dove, Fin. Sec. 

From the following table it will be seen that, 
by the mercy of God, we have a total member- 
ship of four thousand persons on the island of New- 
foundland and its dependencies. Its contributions to 
the mission fund, for the last year, were $2,243,64, 
and the adherents to Methodism upwards of twenty 
thousand souls. 



MEMBERSHIP. 



429 



Our membership stands tlms : — 





Members. 


On Trial. 


Total. 


St. Johns 


304 


248 


552 


Harbor Grace 


102 




102 


Carbonear 


501 


17 


518 


Brigus 


126 


10 


136 


Port de Grave .... 


50 


20 


70 


Blackhead .... 


435 


2 


437 


Island Cove 


128 




128 


Old Perlican .... 


280 


30 


310 


Hants' Harbor .... 


150 


36 


186 


Trinity 


90 


6 


96 


Bonavista 


302 


25 


327 


Twillingate .... 


225 


20 


245 


Burin 


250 


131 


381 


Grand Bank .... 


197 


47 


244 


Petites 


55 


20 


75 


Channel 


11 




11 


Exploits 


95 


50 


145 


Fogo 


33 


47 


80 


Green's Pond .... 


30 


26 


56 




3364 


735 


4099 



Such is the state of our church in Newfoundland, 
in this the centenary year of its existence. We have 
reached at least one-third of the Protestant population, 
and one -sixth of the entire population of the isl- 
and. And if the labors of the few agents, which 
Methodism had for a large part of the last century, 
have been so much blessed, what may we not expect 
in future, with her greatly increased agency, and the 
appliances she now has at command ? We truly have 
cause to thank God, and take courage, and will heartily 
join in the prayer of Moses, the man of God : — 



430 ^1•^VF0UNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

" Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy 
glory unto their children. And let the beauty of 
the Lord our God be upon us ; and establish thou 
the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of 
our hands, establish thou it." 



CONCLUSIOK 

DURING the past century, the Methodist minis- 
ters who have labored in Newfoundland have 
toiled through many difficulties, and suffered many priva- 
tions ; but those difficulties mostly arose from the phys- 
ical state of the country, or from men who were influ- 
enced by a morbid theology ; never from the opposi- 
tion of the people. A Newfoundlander scarcely knows 
how to be inhospitable or unkind to strangers ; and 
for Christian ministers he feels a deep respect. The 
Congregational church in St. Johns, which for many 
years was the only non-conforming body beside our- 
selves, always showed much of brotherly kindness ; 
and the Presbyterians, whose churches have been 
comparatively recently formed, do the same to this day. 
Roman Catliolics, however they may hate heretics, 
have offered but little opposition to Methodism in a 
direct way. The opposition we have been called to 
meet was from men who called themselves Protes- 
tants ; who pompously claim to be the church ; who 
denounce other ministers as " unauthorized guides," 
and deny their right, either to preach the gospel or 
administer the sacraments, because they have not re- 
ceived ordination from the hands of a diocesan bishop. 
We can indeed afford to smile at these ostentatious 
pretensions, yet we would remind these gentlemen 
that, but for Methodist preachers and their labors be- 
fore these claimants for " apostolical succession " came 

(431) 



432 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

to the island, many places where themselves now 
labor would have been uncheered with the light and 
truths of the gospel, or have been brought under 
the power and direct influence of the Church of Rome. 
We hope and pray that these men may see and act 
differently ; but whether so or not, it is the fixed 
purpose of Wesleyan ministers to labor on with dili- 
gence in their Master's work, give themselves to the 
*' ministry of the word and to prayer," knowing that 
in " due season we shall reap, if we faint not." 

The progress of our mission in Newfoundland has 
never been rapid ;* still, from its commencement, it 
has been gradual and continuous. For a time it was 
located in and near Harbor Grace ; then it com- 
menced in Old Perlican ; from Harbor Grace it ex- 
tended down the North Shore, and from Perlican it 
was carried to Island Cove and across the bay to 
Trinity. Next it commenced in St. Johns, and, not 
long after, it went as far north as Bonavista. After 
several years, it took a long stretch to the west, and 
planted itself in Burin and Fortune Bay. Another 
stationary period came, after which it rolled on north 
to Green's Pond and Twillingate, and in another 
direction went to the Western Shore ; and, finally, 
it extended to the coast of Labrador, and as far 
north on that coast as our hardy fishermen, in the 
prosecution of their wearisome and dangerous toil, 
deem it prudent to proceed. 

There is no one place that the missionaries have 
labored, in which they have not had success. In several 
places they are the only Protestant ministers ; and in 
others they have an influence over the larger portion 
of the community. Thousands have gone to heaven 
from Newfoundland, who never sat under any other than 



CONCLUSION. 433 

the Wesleyan ministry ; and thousands are now living in 
the enjoyment of religion, who, but for Methodism, would 
be ignorant of God and walking in the ways of sin. 

The physical difficulties of the country have to 
a great extent been overcome. When Lawrence 
Coughlan landed at Harbor Grace, and for sixty 
years after, there was not a road to travel on, or 
a horse to ride ; the plough was unknown ; the land was 
uncultivated except what was done with the narrow 
Irish spade. Now in many places they have good 
roads and bridges, horses, carriages, packets, steam- 
boats, ploughs, and various other agricultural imple- 
ments. Hence travelling can now be performed with 
comfort, and the land cultivated with comparative 
ease. Moreover, many thousands of acres of rich arable 
land have been discovered in a country denounced as 
universally barren, and mines and minerals have also 
been found of sufficient richness and in localities 
of such convenience as will repay the capitalist and 
employ laborers to a great extent ; which, with the 
inexhaustible shoals of fish on Its shores, the count- 
less multitude of seals that annually come on Its coast, 
and the rich furs of its Interior, will raise Newfound- 
land, at no great distance of time, to great wealth and 
prosperity. 

In arriving at its present civil position, and acquir- 
ing its present political constitution, Newfoundland 
has had many a struggle, and has sometimes been 
placed in a position that was humiliating and op- 
pressive. For many years she was without any govern- 
ment whatever ; and what in that country was first 
called a government, which was the " fishing-admiral " 
system, was only another name for anarchy. The 
administration of law, by either floating or re.^dent 



434 NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

surrogates, was incongruous to every principle which 
an Enghshman would consider as righteous and equi- 
table ; and when the question of self-government by a 
provincial house of assembly was mooted, the measure 
was stoutly opposed, — the idea was ridiculed. It was 
said the barren character of the country would not 
warrant such measure ; the ignorance that prevailed in 
the out-harbors was so great that the people could 
not be made to understand it ; and that there were not 
men enough of sufficient intelligence to occupy those 
official positions which, as members in a colonial parlia- 
ment, they would of necessity be required to fill. 
When the charter was granted and the constitutional 
government formed, instead of being a great boon, it 
for several years was a great bane ; for there were not 
sufficient guards in reference either to the elective 
suffi^age, or the qualification of members. The gov- 
ernment, therefore, was soon thrown into the power of 
the Roman priesthood, and, althougli nominally a 
civil government, was practically a hierarchy. For 
eight years did the Protestants of Newfoundland groan 
under this oppressive tyranny ; but this difficulty was 
in time overcome, for on the 26th of April, 1841, 
Captain Prescott, the then governor of the island, dis- 
missed the assembly, and dissolved the charter. A 
new charter was afterwards granted, more adapted to 
the wants and circumstances of the people. Under 
this charter they are now governed. These op- 
pressive acts the Newfoundlanders bore with great 
patience. There was nothing rebellious in them ; they 
are firmly attached to the British Crown, and they 
have never sought redress for their grievances, except 
in a constitutional manner. The papal power still 
strives to govern the island, as in fact, it does every- 



CONCLUSION. 435 

where ; yet, the increasing intelHgence of the Protes- 
tant population, their numbers, and their wealth, are 
such, that while they will readily concede to Roman 
Catholics their religious privileges in their full extent, 
and their just share in the government of the country, 
they will never again allow the priesthood to rule, or 
their own privileges, civil or religious, to be taken 
from them. 

In the preceding pages it is shown, that the laboring 
people often suffer extreme poverty, arising from the 
failure of the fishery, or the small number of seals 
which come on the coast in the spring. This is deeply 
to be deplored. The cause is, these people follow no 
business but the fisheiy ; they do not cultivate the land 
to the extent it must be done before this state of things 
can be entirely altered. There is indeed a great diffi- 
culty in the way ; for the months of May and June 
are in general the best months for fishing, and that is 
the only time to plough and plant the ground. Still, 
by a judicious arrangement, time may be foinid to 
plant a portion of ground before the fishery commences, 
to cut the hay in the slack time between the caplln and 
squid scull, and gather, in the autumn, both the fruits 
of earth and of the sea. 

Education is now being extensively diffused and has 
already been a great blessing to the people. For want 
of t'iiis, in bygone years the Newfoundlanders were 
often the subjects of banter and burlesque. It was 
with them as it used to be with the British -sailor. 
When the mariner-would return from his long voyage, 
and reach his native shore, instead of providing him 
with a comfortable home, with means of mental culture 
and religious instruction, he would be left to the tender 
mercies of the rumseller, the crimp, and the most prof- 



436 NEWFOUNDLAND AND IT9 MISSIONARIES. 

ligate of liuman beings ; and when, tlu'ongh the influ- 
ence of strong drink, lie would swear like a demon, or 
act like a maniac, tlie passers-by would smile, and ex- 
claim, " Never mind him, — he is only a sailor." So it 
was with the Newfoundlander ; when from lack of ed- 
ucation his language would not be grammatical, his ac- 
cent be that of his forefathers, or he would use terms or 
phrases which, however expressive at one time, are now 
old-fashioned and obsolete, those who heard him would 
smile, and say, " Oh, he is only an ignorant fisher- 
man." 

A reproach like this will soon cease to be heard. 
For Newfoundland now has her academies of learning, 
her training-schools for teachers, and her elementary 
schools scattered over the whole island. She has 'also 
her institutions for science, literature, her public libra- 
ries, botanic gardens, and other means of improve- 
ment. She has her public lecturers, her orators, 
and her divines ; and another generation will not pass 
away ere her fishermen will be quite as well educated 
as are the peasantry of any province in this hemis- 
phere. 

In the Sabbath' schools the children are taught the 
facts of the Bible, and instructed in its doctrines, while 
every effort is made to lead them to an experimental 
acquaintance with the religion of Jesus. The teach- 
ers in these Sabbath schools have been rewarded for 
their })ast labors, in seeing the benefit the children have 
received ; while the instances are not few where little 
children have died happy, through and by means of the 
iHstructions received in the Sabbath school. 

The ministers of the Wesleyan Church have great 
cause for thankfulness for the manner and the extent 
to which their labors have been blessed to this people. 



CONCLUSION. 437 

NewfoiiiKllaiicl was tlie first inlssionary ground ever 
occupied by tlie Metliodist Church ; and Methodism 
was the first evangehcal teaching the people of that 
iskmd ever enjoyed. For one entire century have 
they toiled along its shores and })reached among its 
people the words of life and salvation. Their labor 
lias not been in vain. They have been instrumental 
in the conversion of many. For this the^^ are thankful. 
But Newfoundland is not yet evangelized ; there are 
many coves and harbors where as yet we have no es- 
tablishments. Popery still governs nearly one half of 
the population, and the little less withering influence 
of Puseyism guides thousands who boast of being called 
Protestants ; while in our Wesleyan communities and 
congregations there are many who are yet unsaved 
and in their sins. 

Consistent with its character and mission, Methodism 
cannot remain an idle spectator of the moral evil that 
is in the world. Her business is to enlio;hten the minds 
of men and pluck poor sinners as brands from the 
burning. For tliis she was called into existence, and 
by a chain of providential interpositions, has been placed 
in her present commanding position ; and were she 
now recreant to her trust, sh-e would lose her glory, be 
laid aside, and another or others would take her place. 
With all evangelical churches she cherishes the most 
fraternal feeling ; but with Popery and her young sister 
Puseyism she is in antagonism, and will never retire 
from the conflict until those systems are no more. 
The circulation of the Holy Scriptures, the right train- 
ing of children, the faithful preaching of Christ cruci- 
fied, with prayer and faith, are the weapons we employ, 
and by these shall error be overthrown and the 
whole be won to Christ. 



438 • NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS MISSIONARIES. 

Let us then labor on until not only eveiy part of 
the island of Newfoundland be truly evangelized, but 
until the light of divine truth shines in every land and 
among every people upon earth. In the word of God 
we are assured that such shall be the case ; for it is 
therein wa'itten, " The earth shall be full of the knowd- 
edo-e of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'* 



y 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



AND 



INDEX. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



A. D. 

1497. Newfoundland discovered by John Cabot, June 24tli. 

1500. Gasper Corteral visited the coast and landed at Portugal 
Cove. 

1502. Portuguese commenced fishing on the coast. 

1517. British, French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, collectively, 
had forty vessels engaged in the fisheries. 

1534. Jacques Cartier landed in Catalina Harbor. 

1536. British attempted to colonize the Island, under " Master 
Robert Hore," a merchant of London, but failed, and 
the colonists nearly perished. 

1549. An Act of Parhament passed for the better encourage- 
ment of the fisheries of Newfoundland. 

1583. Sir Humphrey Gilbert took formal possession of New- 
foundland, on Monday, August 5th, in the name of 
Queen Elizabeth. 

1610. First settlers came out to Conception Bay, under Mr. Guy, 
a merchant, of Bristol. 

1612. Guy partially surveyed the coast, and held friendly inter- 
course with the Red Indians. 

1615. Captain Whitbourne sent out to correct abuses. 

1623. Second party of English settlers came, under Lord Balti- 
more, and settled in Ferriland. 

1633. First laws promulgated in reference to Newfoundland. 
" Fishing Admiral System commenced. 

1635. Permission granted to the French to cure fish on the land. 

1675. Colonists displanted by royal authority, when many houses 

were destroyed and much suflering caused among the 
people. 

1676. The order revoked. 

1696. St. Johns captured by the French, under Admiral Brou- 

illen. 

(441) 



442 CHROXOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1705. Frencli destroy a number of British settlements on the 
coast. 

1708. St. Johns captured a second time by the French, under 
St. Ovide. 

1713. Treaty of Utrecht. 

1729. Newfoundland separated from the government of Nova 
Scotia. Captain Henry Osborne, R. N., the first 
governor. He erected the first court-house and jail, 
instituted surrogate courts, and appointed magis- 
trates. 

1741. Court of Vice Admiralty established. 

1751. Captain Drake established a court of oyer and terminer. 

1762. St. Johns captured a third time by the French Admiral 

de Tern ay. 

1763. Labrador annexed to the government of Newfoundland. 
" Treaty of Paris. 

1 764. Custom-house established by Sir Hugh Pelliser, and navi- 

gation laws extended to Newfoundland. 

1765. Rev. Lawrence Coughlan arrives in Harbor Grace, and 

introduces Methodism. 
1 7 70. John Stretton arrives in Harbor Grace. 
1772. Lawrence Coughlan returns to England. 

1774. John Haskins arrives in Newfoundland. 

1775. Year of the great storm. 

" Copper mine opened in Shoal Bay, near St. Johns. 
1786. John M'Geary arrives in Newfoundland. 
1789. Court of Common Pleas established by Admiral Mil- 

banke. 
1791. Rev. Wilham Black visits Newfoundland. 
1796. A large French fleet appeared off St. Johns, and burnt 

Bay Bulls. 
1807. First newspaper issued in St. Johns. 

1815. Mission stations in Newfoundland organized into a dis- 

trict. 

1816. Great fire in St. Johns, Feb. 12. Property destroyed to 

the amount of £100,000. 

1817. A second great fire, Nov. 7; thirteen mercantile estab- 

lishments and one hundred and forty houses destroyed. 
" The winter of the " Rals." 
1819. Mary March, a red Indian -woman, brought to St. Johns. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 443 

1823. Mr. Cormach crossed the island -from Random Sound to 
St. George's J3ay. 
" Three Indian females brought to St. Johns, — the last 
red Indians that have been seen. 

1826. Surrogate Court abolished, and Supreme Court estab- 
lished. 

1833. First session of the legislature opened Jan. 1, by Sir 
Thomas Cochran. 

1839. Geological survey of the island, by J. B. Jukes, Esq., 

JV1A.F.; G.S. 

1840. First steamer arrives in St. Johns 
1846. St. Johns again nearly destroyed by fire. 

1855. The Wesleyan districts in the lower provinces united, and 
formed in+o distinct connection, called The Confer- 
ence OF Eastern British America. 

1859. First missions of the Conference formed. 

1860. The Prince of Wales visits Newfoundland. 

1865. The centenary year of Methodism in British America. 



INDEX 



A. 



C. 





PAGE 




PAGE 


Aborigines 


72 


Caplin Scull 


209 


Acadenlie^!, Newfoundland . 


67 


Carbonear .... 


. 14 


Academy, St Johns 


209 


" Resists the French 


54 


Academy, Sackville . 


207 


" Captain, Anecdote of 


. 156 


Admiralty, Vice Court of 


85 


Catalina 


12 


Admirals Fishing . . .75, 82 


Chesley, Rev. Robert, Memoir of 


235 


Allison, C. F. Esq., his Gift . . 


207 


Circulars 


. 172 


Angwin, Key. Thomas 


224 


Clarke, Dr. Adam, Memoir of 


199 


Animal Kingdom .... 


59 


Climate 


. 31 


Armada, Spanish .... 


71 


Coast, Sea 


14, 15 


Assembly, First in Newfoundland . 


93 


Churches, Newfoundland 


. 211 






Church, Congregational 


108 


B. 




Cochran, Sir Thomas 


. 65 


Baltimore, Lord .... 


74 


Colonization .... 


47,48 


Barr, Rev. Ninian .... 


239 


Conference, First British 


. 86 


Bate, Rev. Charles, Memoir of . 


196 


" of 1769 . 


93 


Beecham Dr., Memoir of . 


233 


" Canada 


228 


Bell, Rev. John, Memoir of 


237 


" French . 


231 


Benson, Rev. Joseph, Memoir of . 


169 


" Australasian 


231 


Bible Society, Newfoundland 


228 


" Eastern British Ame 




Birds 


63 


ica . 


232 


Black, Rev. William . 


176 


" Catechisms 


213 


Boardman, Rev. Richard 


131 


Coke, Dr 12 


9,137 


Bonavista resists the French 


82 


" Mission to India 


141 


" Circuit, .... 


199 


" Death of . 


142 


Boyce, President ... 


240 


Coughlan, Rev. Lawrence 123, 13 


4,141 


Boyd, Rev. John .... 


178 


Crab's River .... 


26 


Brackenbury, R. C, Esq., his Be- 




Corbett, Rev. John . 


196 


quest 


194 


Court of the Fishing Admirals 


75 


Bradburn, Rev. Samuel . 


172 


" Surrogate Established 


84 


Buckley, Rev. James . 


192 


" of Vice-Admiralty 


85 


Bunting, Rev Jabez, Memoir of 


258 


" Oyer and Terminer . 


85 


Busby, Rev. Sampson . 


182 


" Common Pleas . 


87 


" ' Memoir of . 


182 


" Supreme . 


91 


Butterworth, Joseph, Esq., Memoir 




Crew, George .... 


215 


of . .... 


198 


Croscomb, Rev. William, Memoir o 

(445) 


t 195 



446 



INDEX. 



Deer 59 

Discovery of Newfoundland . . 65 

Distances of the principal Towns . 16 

Displanting the Inhabitants . . 77 
District, First Newfoundland^ 

formed .... 193,164 

Dodwell, Kev. T. his Bequest . 144 

Dove, Rev. James .... 235 

Drawing Bills . . 245 

Drinking Habits . . . . 203 

Duke, Rev. James A. . . . 237 

E. 

Eastern Coast .... 20 

Editor Winton, his Ears cut off . 206 

Ellidge, Rev. George . . .188 

Ellis, Rev. William, Memoir of . 181 

Embury, Philip . . . .134 

England, Religious State of . . 103 

Esquimaux, Moravian Mission to . 184 

" Wesley an " 185 

F. 

Famine in Bonavista . . . 217 
Faulkner, Rev. William . . .215 

Flowers 57, 58 

Fly-Sheet Agitation . . .229 
Forests of Newfoundland . . 35 
Fish, Captain Hayes' Report of . 203 
Fisheries, Laws respecting the . 18 
Fishery commenced ... 67 
" Mode of Prosecuting . 205 
French Shore .... 22 
'' Aggression ... 80 
" not allowed to erect Build- 
ings .81 

French Capture St. Johns . . 23 

" second Time . . 83 

" third Time . 85 



G. 

Gaetz, Rev. Thomas, Memoir of . 242 

Garden Fruits .... 58 

Gardens 205 

Geology 51 

Gilbert. Sir Humphrey takes posses- 
sion of the Island ... 68 
Gilbert is lost at the Azores . 69 
Green Bay Mission . . . 223 



H. 

Haigh, Rev. John, Memoir of . 240 

Harbor Grace . . . . 32 

" Circuit . . 225 

Hickson, James .... 225 

♦' his Journey . 202 

" Memoir of . . 223 

Hickson, Thomas ... 223 

" Mission to Labrador 186 

Hoskins, John . . . 150 

Houses . . . . 204 

Huntingdon, Lady .... 166 

Houston, Miss, her Bequest 194 

I. 

Ibberville French Admiral . . 81 

India 189 

Indies, West 186 

Ingornachoix Bay ... 28 

Intei-ior of the Island ... 36 

Ingham, Rev. Jabez . . . 224 

J. 

James, Rev. John, Memoir of . 199 

Johns, St., Description of . , 19 

" Attacked by Nesmond . 80 

" Captured by Ibberville 81 

" " by St. Ovid . 83 
" " by a French 

Squadron . . 85 

" Retaken by Lord Colville 88 

" Threatened by Richery 88 
" Great Fires in . .90,196 
" Circuit . . . .196 

" Jubilee Meeting at . 246 

Jubilee of Wesleyan Missionary So- 
ciety 244 

Jubilee Movement of E. B. A. Con- 
ference 245 

Jukes, Mr., Surveys the Island . 26 

K. 

Knight, Rev. Richard . . . 227 

" Mission to Labrador . 187 

" Journey across the Country 202 

" Memoir of ... 240 



L. 

Tjeake, Sir John, destroys 
nine Fi-ench Ships 



twenty- 



82 



INDEX. 



447 



Lakes 41 

Labrador annexed to Newfoundland 86 
Labrador, Mission to the Indians of 184 
Labrador, Mission to Fishermen and 

Settlers of . . . 227,228 
Lay Preachers .... 113 
Leeds Missionary Society . . 189 
Lewis, Rev. John . . . 222 

Literature 226 

Lock, Elizabeth, Anecdotes of 

138, 156. 219 
Long Range .... 40 



M. 

McGeary, Rev. John 
McDowell, Rev. S., Memoir of 
Marshall, Rev. W. " " 
March, Mary, Native Indian 
Mason, Rev. John, Memoir of 
Members in Newfoundland 



MEMOIRS. 
Bate, Rev. Charles . 
Beecham, Rev. John, d. d. 
Bell, Rev. John 
Bunting, Rev. Jabez, d. d. 
Busby, Rev. Sampson 
Butterworth, Joseph, Esq., 
Clarke, Rev. Adam, ll. d. 
Chesley, Rev. Robert A. 
Croscombe, Rev. William 
Cubit, Rev. George 
Ellis, Rev. William 
Gaetz, Rev. Thomas 
Ilaigh, Rev. John 
Hickson, Rev. James . 
James, Rev. John . 
Knight, Rev. Richard . 
Mason, Rev. John . 
McDowell, Rev. Samuel 
Marshall, Rev. William . 
Morley, Rev. George . 
Murry, Rev. William 
Noall, Rev. Simeon 
Pickavant, Rev. John 
Remmington, Rev. John 
Shenstone, Rev. William S. 
Smith, Rtv. George 
Stanley, Rev. Thomas. . 
Thoresby, Rev. William 
Townley, liev. James, d. d. 



159, 174 
181 
225 
190 
. 265 
247 



196 



237 
258 
132 
198 
199 
335 
195 
237 
181 
242 
240 
223 
199 
240 
265 
181 
225 
263 
220 
195 
222 
180 
243 
178 
199 
179 
199 



Walsh, Rev. John 


238 


Watson, Rev. Richard . 


260 


Williams, Rev. Richard . , 


225 


Methodism, the Rise of . 


111 


" Success of . . 


122 


" in Ireland 


12,3 


" Newfoundland 


124 


" New York . 


124 


" Jersey . 


144 


" France 


145 


" OldPerlican . 


149 


*' Harbor Grace . 


143 


" Trinity . 


151 


" Burin 


222 


Minutes of 1770 .... 


165 


Missionary Society, Formation of . 


190 


" Meeting, the first 


193 


" Report . . . . 


184 


Missions in 1818 


243 


" of E. B. A. Conference 


238 


" of Moravians to Labrador 


184 


Mineralogy . . . . . 


47 


Morley, Rev. George, Memoir of , 


191 


Mountains and Hills 


37 


Murry, Rev. W., Memoir of 


220 



Nelson, John 117 

Newfoundland Missionary Society 234 

Newspapers 

Noall, Rev. Simeon, Memoir of 

Nightingale, Rev. Adam 

Nova Scotia Missionary Society 

Norris, Rev. James 



90 
195 
178 
236 
224 



o. 

Oldsters, What is meant by . . 207 

Olivers. Rev. Thomas . . . 171 

Osborne, Govenior .... 84 



P. 

Palliser, Sir Hugh 

Persecution in England . 
" Trinity 
" Bonavista 

Petty Harbor 



80 

. 114 

153 

200, 246 

. 251 

Pierre, St 21 

" Ceded to the French . 26 
Pilmore, Rev..Jo.seph . . 129,132 
Pickavant, Rev. John, Memoir of 222 



448 



INDEX. 



Population 

Position of Newfoundland . 

Prayer-meetings . . . . 

Prince of Wales, Visit of 

Preachers, their Length of Service 

Propagation Society 

Public Ledgef .... 



Q. 



Quadrupeds 
Quirpon Island . 
Quinsy, Malignant 



18,96 
17 
214 
95 
187 
245 
206 



59 



215 



K. 

Rasping Preachers Accounts 255 

Religion, State of in England . 103 

Removal from Circuits . . 200 

Remmington, Rev. John, Memoir of 180 

Reptiles, none on the Island . 63 

Representatives in House of Assembly 96 

Revival of Religion in Conception Bay 175 

" in Perlican and Island Cove 152 

" in Blackhead . . 218 

" in Bird Island Cove . 216 

Richery, Admiral ... 88 

Rivers and Streams ... 45, 46 



s. 



Sabbath Schools . 
Sabbath-breaking . . 
Schools, Paucity of 
School Society, Newfoundland 
Scott, Rev. Robinson . 
Seals, Varieties of . 

" Mode of Taking 

" Numbers Taken 
Sealing Vessels Number of . 
Seeker, Archbishop 
Shanandithit, Red Indian Female 
Shenstone, Rev. W. S., Memoir of 
Shirley, Rev. Walter, his Circular 

Singing 

Smith, Rev. George, Memoir of . 

Smithies, Rev. John 

Snowball, Rev. John . 

Soil of Newfoundland 

Squid Scull 



213, 



182, 



Stations 178, 194, 198, 214, 220, 224 

225, 234, 246. 
Stanley, Rev. Thomas, Memoir of 199 
Statistics, Tables of . . . 96 

Stretton, John . 143, 145, 148, 178 
Steamers . . , . ^. 94, 95 
Storms, Great .... 87, 229 
Students Expelled from Oxford . 166 
Swindell, Robert . . . .169 



Thomey, Arthur . . . 146 

Thoresby, Rev. William, Memoir of 179 

Thornton, President . . . 246 
Townley, Rev. James, d. d., Memoir 

of 199 

Tides 34 

Tompkins, Rev. John . . 198, 202 

Travelling in Newfoundland . 200 

Treaty of Utrecht .... 22 

'• Paris .... 23 

" Versailles ... 24 

Y. 

Vegetable Kingdom ... 55 

Vicars, Caprain .... 230 

Vicars, Captain Hedley . . 231 

Vice-Admiralty Court ... 85 



232 

218 


w. 




175 


Warren, Dr., Agitates the Connec- 




175 


tion 


221 


246 


Walsh, Rev. John, Memoir of 


238 


179 


Walsh, Thomas .... 


169 


180 


Ward, William .... 


182 


182 


Watson, Rev. Richard, his Sermon 


192 


183 


" " " Memoir of . 


260 


110 


Wesley, Rev. John, m. a., his Labors 




191 


and Death .... 


160 


243 


Wesley, Rev. Charles, his Poetry . 


161 


134 


" " <' his Letter to 




211 


John Stretton 


159 


178 


Webb, Captain .... 


126 


198 


Western Bay Circuit . 


226 


224 


Wild Flowers . . . - 


57 


52 


Winter Tilts .... 


216 


209 


WilUam, Rev. Richard, Memoir of . 


225 




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V . , 






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